China's global warming report reveals potential future changes to industries
In a 900-page report, “Third National Climate Assessment Report,” released by the Chinese government, 550 scientists and experts assess how China is, and will be, affected by global warming. The findings include a trend of rising average temperatures to between 2.7 and 2.9 degrees Celsius (4.9 to 5.2 Fahrenheit), an increase of floods and droughts, with total precipitation rising between two to five percent, and a higher-than-global-average sea level rise, with the consequent loss of coastline and land. The report states that the country will experience earlier and shorter growing seasons and that changes in agricultural practises and innovation in irrigation technology will be needed. 

HIGHER SEA LEVELS

Across the planet, sea levels have been rising because of melting polar caps and the accumulated heat that is expanding oceans. But the effects are not uniform. Some parts of the planet experience higher rises than others, reflecting the effects of ocean currents, winds and the gravitational influence of polar ice masses. And China, the report says, is in a part of the world where sea level rises have been relatively high and are likely to remain that way. From 1980 to 2012, China’s coastal seas rose an average of 2.9 millimeters, or 0.11 inch, a year, higher than the global average. Forecasting how fast future rises will be is difficult, partly because much rests on the future of the polar ice sheets.

In the next 30 years, the East China Sea off Shanghai could rise between 7.5 and 14.5 centimeters, or 3 and 5.7 inches. The rises will force back the coastline and expose low-lying areas to worse damage from storms and typhoons, which whip up surges of water, as well as inundations of saltwater into waterways and farmland. Each rise of one centimeter in sea level could push the coastline back more than 10 meters, or 32.8 feet, the report says. It calls for much greater investment in sea walls and other protections.