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China warns rapid climate change may be warming Tibet but extreme weather and disasters to follow
- Government researchers find warmer and wetter weather have expanded lakes and rivers and improved the habitats of gazelles, antelopes and donkeys
- But the number of disasters – including mudslides, avalanches and the breaking up of glaciers – has increased over the past four decades
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Rapid climate change in China’s Qinghai-Tibet plateau could destabilise water supplies and cause more frequent disasters, even though warmer temperatures had improved conditions in the short term, scientists said after an expedition to the region.
The region, which covers much of China’s remote northwest and includes the Himalayas, has been identified as one of the country’s “ecological security barriers” and is a vital “water tower” regulating flows to eastern, central and southern Asia.
A recent report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said the plateau region was facing rising flood hazards and more frequent extreme heat and rain.
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Government researchers found that temperature and rainfall increases had made the region greener, more fertile and more “beautiful”, expanding lakes and rivers and improving the habitats of gazelles, antelopes and donkeys.
“But in fact, a high price will be paid for this ‘beauty’, with significant warming and humidification exacerbating the occurrence of extreme weather and climate events,” the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said in a summary of the expedition’s findings published on Tuesday.
Over the long term, warmer temperatures are likely to further destabilise weather patterns and water flows and encourage encroachment by invasive lowland species, putting native animals under stress.
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