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Impact of Global Warming on China's Economy

posted by System Administrator on 11/10/06

BEIJING - "Meteorological disasters take about 3 to 6 percent off China's GDP every year," Qin Dahe, director of the China Meteorological Administration, told reporters at a conference in Beijing in November, 2006. "We have to consider the effects of global warming on the natural and economic systems."Droughts, floods and other weather disasters stunt China's economy by up to 6 percent every year, the country's chief meteorologist said, warning of the potential costs of global warming for the Asian boom economy. "

Beijing is the world's number two producer of greenhouse gases but has kept a low profile in international efforts to tackle emissions -- a stance the EU's top environment official said he hoped would change. "It is absolutely clear the Chinese government is intent on pulling its weight internationally and our firm hope is that they will start doing it on this particular issue," Mogens Peter Carl, director general of the European Union's environment division, told journalists on a visit to the Chinese capital.

Last year, China's gross domestic product hit 18.32 trillion yuan, or US$2.32 trillion, meaning that at current levels extreme weather costs China between US$70 billion and US$130 billion a year, according to Qin's estimate. Qin, who is a senior member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that is examining global warming and will deliver its next report in early 2007, said his estimate was based on estimated losses to farming and other sensitive sectors.

Chinese scientists have produced no overall assessment of the potential economic impact of global warming.

PUBLIC AWARENESS KEY

This summer China was pummelled by typhoons and floods along its coast and by drought in western provinces, but public awareness of global warming and its possible toll on the country's already fragile ecosystem is limited. However Carl said he expected concerns to grow, and to boost pressure on Beijing to act. "It may take a little more time here than elsewhere, but I am optimistic because I have seen the extraordinary speed with which public opinion in India has woken up to this," Carl said.

Scientists say it is impossible to draw a direct link between any one of these "extreme events" and rising average temperatures. But Gordon McBean, a climate expert at the University of Western Ontario, said in Beijing that he and other scientists were sure that continued global warming would lead to an overall increase in such disasters."

Excerpted from PlanetArk.com "Global Warming Costing China Billions Each Year" November 10, 2006