Global warming is set to cut China's annual grain harvest by up to 10 percent by 2030, placing extra burden on its shrinking farmland, state press reported Thursday.
Zheng Guoguang, head of the State Meteorological Administration, said the impact of global warming means that China will likely need an extra 10 million hectares (247 million acres) of farmland by 2030.
The year 2030 is a key date because that is when the nation's population is expected to peak at 1.5 billion people, up from just over 1.3 billion today, requiring an extra 100 million tons of food to feed them.
"Global warming may cause the grain harvest to fall by five to 10 percent, that is by 30-50 million tons, by 2030," the China Daily quoted Zheng as saying.
[...]
Chinese authorities have issued a series of reports and studies in recent months outlining the grim impact global warming will have on the country.
Last month environmental authorities said climate change was shrinking wetlands at the source of China's two greatest rivers -- the Yangtze and the Yellow -- which had reduced water flows.
Other studies found that massive glaciers in northwestern China's Xinjiang region and in the Himalayas had been shrinking rapidly.
This would have dire consequences for much of Asia as many of the region's rivers begin in those regions.
Note, my bet is that China will have something worse based on the fact that there is a lot of evidence that makes it seem as though the climate is changing much faster than we thought it would. If China loses even more farm land, what do you want to bet the farmers in the US will definitely no longer need subsidies? Especially if we make the possibly foolish switchover to biofuels.
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