A quarter of China's population at risk as glaciers start melting

[Barrett808]

Global warming may cost China two thirds of its glaciers by mid-century, putting 300 million people at risk, state media reported Thursday.

The country's glaciers are melting at an unprecedented rate, threatening the livelihoods of Chinese dependent on the water they provide, the China Daily said, citing local experts.

"Glaciers are much more than scenic gifts from nature," the paper said. "They allow room for bio-diversity and are a crucial source of water by storing snow in the winters and releasing water in hot dry summers."

As many as 64 percent of China's glaciers may be gone by 2050, said Yao Tandong, director of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

(more)

http://www.spacedaily.com/2004/040513024807.6xzk3jf5.html

[NMDemDist2]

1. Global warming is not backed by science, nothing to see here

just move along <sarcasm off>

[Bandit]

2. Isn't china one of the worst polluting countries in the world?

I thought the largest stumbling block to Kyoto was that China didn't have to stop it's polluting while we had to cut twenty-five per cent.

[xchrom]

3. i don't know the specifics

and while the percntages maybe correct -- the idea was that the west has the technology and the wealth to bring their pollution rates down by that much without significant damage to the economy.
third world countries, i.e. china, india, brazil have less to play with.
also there were agreements, i believe to help third world countries catch up technologically to clean up their environments.
that's just as i understand it.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. CO2 emissions data (1997)

USA 5,478 million tons; 20 tons per person
China 3,358 million tons; 2.8 tons per person

(The EU is somewhere around 9 tons per person).

The point being that China still emits far less CO2 than any developed country, per person.

Reference: http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/infonation3/menu/advanced.asp