38. Climate Change and Environmental Evolution in Western China and Response Strategy

Western China stretches across 52^o longitude and 32^o latitude with an area of 6.6083 million km² and a population of 355 m, representing 68.83 per cent and 27.41 per cent of the national totals, respectively. With harsh natural conditions, vulnerable ecology and frequent disasters, the western part lags far behind the rest of China in terms of economic and social development. In 1999, central government launched a strategy for development in this part, which pays great attention to ecology and environmental protection. Human activities and industrialization have seriously degraded the environment. Fossil fuel consumption, environmental pollution, deforestation, overfarming and overgrazing have changed the atmospheric composition and resulted in global warming. Many key elements of Earth's environment have also changed. In western China, lakes have shrunk, glaciers retreated and rivers dried up; desertification has intensified and biodiversity diminished. The consequences have been a shortage of water resources and an increased occurrence of natural disasters, such as droughts, floods, avalanches, landslides and mud- and rockslides. It is planned to rehabilitate western China fundamentally by 2050: a long-term and arduous endeavour, as well as an integrated large-scale scientific project. “Climate change and environmental evolution in western China and response strategy” was one of the scientific lectures presented at Fourteenth World Meteorological Congress. It has been slightly modified for the WMO Bulletin.