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Chinese food production is vulnerable to climate change, report says

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE News Release (2008/8) issued by COI News Distribution Service. 31 October 2008

Climate change will present a major challenge to China in feeding its growing population by the middle of the century. This is a key message from a three-year bilateral project between the UK and China.

Minister Joan Ruddock of the UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change said:

"The impacts of climate change will be felt across the globe and will hit many developing countries the hardest.

"This study shows the potentially serious impacts climate change will have on food production. It underlines just how urgent it is for all countries to join the fight to tackle dangerous climate change by reducing emissions and securing a global deal in Copenhagen in 2009. It also emphasises just how vital it is for all countries to develop regionally specific strategies that will help communities and countries adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change.

"The UK has worked hard with China experts and officials to address these issues and will continue to carry out joint research on adaptation to climate change."

The project has examined how one area of China, Ningxia Hui Autonomous region, could adapt agricultural techniques to deal with the impact of climate change. Vulnerable farmers are already having to develop new methods to adapt to these long-term changes in the weather, such as reducing water loss by covering the soil with stones, and planting new crop varieties.

The study found that the three main climate risks for Ningxia are droughts and other extreme weather events, increasing temperatures leading to drier soils, and shifts in the flow regime of the Yellow River (the main water source).

The report also predicts that as a result of climate change alone, China is likely to see a reduction in yields of key crops (wheat, maize, and rice) from the 2020s. As the population increases, availability of staple foods may fall below the critical level necessary for people's basic needs. However, it also notes that increased levels of carbon dioxide in the air, which helps plants to grow and, improvements in farming techniques may help boost yields but that whether this can significantly reduce the effects of climate change is very uncertain.

Notes for Editors

1. The key findings and approaches for the project are summarised in a series of pamphlets based on the full technical reports. Both the summaries and reports can be found at http://www.china-climate-adapt.org

2. This project has been undertaken as part of a partnership between the UK and Chinese governments on climate change. Both parties are considering undertaking further work together on climate change risks and adaptation.

3. The Impact of Climate Change on Chinese Agriculture Project built on earlier work from Phase 1 of the project, to assess the impacts of climate change on Chinese agriculture, by also taking into account socio-economic changes and water availability. The project addressed the impact of climate change on a regional basis. It engaged with a range of stakeholders and local farmers to assess the impact of climate change on rural livelihoods, and to develop the first regional adaptation framework in China, for the northern province of Ningxia

4. As a result of this project, the Ningxia Climate Change Response Office was set up in early 2008 to promote adaptation and mitigation programmes.

5. This project was funded by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the Department for International Development (DFID) and conducted in partnership with China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). The UK Government provided £827,000 for Phase II of this project.

6. The project team comprised the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, AEA Group, who managed the project and provided technical input, and Dr. Declan Conway of the University of East Anglia as Scientific Advisor.

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