Adapting to Climate Change
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 23, 2015
II. Adapting to Climate Change
In 2014, the Chinese government conducted climate change adaptation work in accordance with National Climate Change Adaptation Plan in the area of agriculture, water resources, forestry and other ecosystems, coastal areas and related waters, meteorology and human health, etc., and achieved positive progress.
(I) Agriculture
Accelerating and promoting the transformation and modernization of agricultural production patterns. The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) has worked in conjunction with China Meteorological Administration and developed 4 work plans including Plan to Cope with El Nino and Ensure Good Harvests, and issued 18 Notices on disaster prevention since 2014 for early implementation of preventive measures. It also organized work such as "Strengthening Guidance and Services to Win Summer Grain Harvest", "Fighting Spring Drought and Flood to Ensure Spring Seeding in Northeast" and "Enhancing Services and Fighting Disasters to Win Autumn Grain Harvest".
Promoting conservation tillage. In 2014, MOA invested 30 million Yuan to carry out conservation tillage in many regions, including 84 project-implementing counties and 10 test monitoring bases. By the end of 2014, the area with mechanized straw returning to the field reached 647 million mu, the area of conservation tillage reached 129 million mu, and the weight of wind-eroded farmland was cut by 64.5 Mtons.
Continuing to carry out farmland infrastructure construction. China enhanced soil fertility improvement, carried out "Action of Zero Growth in Pesticide Use in 2020" and "Action of Zero Growth in Fertilizer Use in 2020", vigorously promoted technologies for water-saving irrigation, dry farming, drought resistance and soil moisture, soil testing and formulated fertilization, green prevention and control, etc., and continued to promote water saving and yield improvement projects in Northeast China, water saving and efficiency improvement projects in Northwest China, limiting water abstraction for saving projects in North China, "Five-Small Water Conservancy" project in Southwest China and water saving and emission reduction projects in the south region.
Accelerating the construction of farmland irrigation and water conservancy. In 2014, China appropriated more than 54 billion Yuan for farmland irrigation and water conservancy construction and implemented continued construction and water-saving transformation projects in 188 large-scale irrigation districts in 22 provinces and autonomous regions. It constructed and reconstructed 4,432 km of backbone channels, renovated 16,121 supporting buildings, upgraded and transformed 74 large irrigation and drainage pumping stations, and carried out 120 large-scale demonstration projects for water-saving irrigation and efficiency improvement and 63 demonstration projects for water-saving irrigation in pastoral regions.
(II) Water Resources
Promoting ecological civilization construction in water area. China continued to implement the most stringent water management system, and all the city and county-level administrative regions in each province (autonomous region and municipality) except Xinjiang have completed the decomposition and confirmation of the "three red lines" controlling targets. It completed 100 water-saving society pilots, undertook 7 water right pilots, developed Measures on National Water Ecological Civilization City Pilots, and launched 105 water ecological civilization pilot cities across the country with Henan and 10 other provinces spearheading this campaign.
Strengthening the management of rivers and lakes and protection on water resource. China further tightened the control over shoreline space use for rivers and lakes, prepared the shoreline use and management planning for key river reaches (lakes) of 7 great basins, and comprehensively carried out the delineation of management area of rivers and lakes. 46 counties (cities) were selected nationwide as institutional mechanism innovation pilots for river and lake management and protection. It compiled Measures for Supervision and Management of Water Functional Areas, developed the Opinions on Limiting the Total Amount of Sewage in Water Functional Areas of Key Rivers and Lakes, developed the Technical Guidelines of Standard-Meeting Assessment for Key Drinking Water Source Regions, and carried out water safety and standard-meeting constructions for 175 key drinking water source regions nationwide. MEP issued Water Pollution Prevention Action Plan to guarantee a secure water ecological environment. The three monitoring systems under the national water resource monitoring capability project were basically completed, and positive headways had been made in the development and utilization of unconventional water resources.
Accelerating the comprehensive treatment of water loss and soil erosion. In 2014, China completed the comprehensive prevention and treatment of water loss and soil erosion of 74,000 square kilometers, of which comprehensive treatment covered an area of 54,000 square kilometers and ecological restoration covered 20,000 square kilometers. In the first half year of 2015, China continued implementing comprehensive soil erosion control projects for slope farmland in seriously eroded areas, fuel-switch projects for small hydropower generation in ecological protection area, Danjiangkou reservoir and upstream water and soil conservation project, and national key water and soil conservation construction projects, etc.
Strengthening the construction of key water conservancy projects. The Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) continued to implement key water saving and supply projects, including water diversion projects, key water source protection projects, key river and lake governance projects, new large-scale irrigation projects and cross-border river development and governance projects, etc. A total of 17 projects were started in 2014. It also promoted the renovation of backbone irrigation and drainage projects in large-scale irrigation areas, renovation and renewal of large irrigation and drainage pumping stations, construction of large-scale and efficient water-saving irrigation projects and so on.
Enhancing the work on flood control and drought relief. In 2014, National Headquarter of Flood Control and Drought Relief launched a total of 10 emergency responses to floods, droughts and typhoons, and organized emergency water diversion in urban areas and for ecological purpose to effectively respond to natural disasters. As a result of this, the annual death toll due to floods hit a historical low. China also prepared and put into practice Implementation Program for National Drought Control Planning, carried out the projects of emergency water source construction for drought control, and continued to promote the prevention from and control of mountain flood, mapping of flood risk and construction of national command system for flood control and drought relief.
(III) Forestry and Other Ecosystems
Strengthening strategic guidance. The State Forestry Administration organized the compilation of Action Plan for Forestry to Adapt to Climate Change (2015-2020) in 2014, which clarified the targets and measures for the forestry to adapt to climate change before 2020.
Strengthening the comprehensive management of forests. In 2014, 3.67 million and 5.57 million mu of afforestation were completed under Beijing and Tianjin sandstorm source control project and stony desertification comprehensive management project respectively. In the first half year of 2015, Beijing and Tianjin sandstorm source control project was implemented by 61%, while stony desertification comprehensive management project was fully completed.
Strengthening the construction of forest natural reserves and protection of wetlands. China continued pushing forward wetland protection and restoration projects and wetland protection subsidizing projects, and completed the second national survey of wetland resources. Besides, China strengthened the protection of forest resources, which significantly reduced the frequency and affected areas of national forest fires, and 1.732 billion mu of forest in natural forest reserves were effectively protected. As of the end of June 2015, the total number of national forestry nature reserves reached 346 while that of wetland parks amounted 569.
Strengthening grassland ecological protection. China further deepened the subsidy and incentive mechanism for grassland ecological protection, started and guided the action of promoting southern modern grassland animal husbandry industry, and strengthened the implementation of grassland protection and restoration projects including returning grazing land to grassland. In addition, China strengthened grassland disaster prevention and law enforcement supervision. In 2014, the comprehensive vegetation coverage of grassland on national level reached 53.6%, with the total fresh grass output totaled 1.02 billion tons.
(IV) Coastal Areas and Relevant Sea Waters
Strengthening the observation, early warning and emergency management of marine disaster. All the 11 coastal provinces strengthened the observation, early warning and emergency management of marine disasters, and the State Oceanic Administration promoted the construction of ocean observing and forecasting system, carried out the monitoring and assessment of marine carbon cycle, and strengthened ocean forecasting and early warning. Besides, it conducted sea level change monitoring, carried out meticulous forecast for key coastal protected objectives, further improved the environment support and service system for marine fishery production safety, and provided wave and wind forecast information for more than 280,000 fishing boats in 53 fishery grounds in China.
Constantly improving the risk assessment of marine disaster. The State Oceanic Administration organized the compilation of China Sea Level Bulletin and Chinese Marine Disasters Bulletin, carried out the state, province, city and county-level marine disaster risk assessment and risk division pilots, and revised Technical Guidelines for Marine Disaster Risk Assessment and Division, and Technical Regulations on Marine Disaster Risk Investigation for Large Coastal Projects.
Actively promoting the construction of comprehensive demonstration areas for marine disaster mitigation. Shouguang (Shandong), Wenzhou (Zhejiang), Lianjiang (Fujian) and Daya Bay in Huizhou (Guangdong) which were more prone to marine disasters were selected as comprehensive demonstration areas for marine disaster mitigation to promote the establishment and improvement of an integrated management system for marine disaster mitigation.
Strengthening the infrastructure construction for disaster prevention and mitigation as well as climate change adaptation in island regions. The central special funds were allocated to repair more than 30 conservation projects. The wind-preventing, wave-preventing and tide-preventing projects and coastal protection forest projects were constructed on islands under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Hainan, which effectively improved island infrastructure and enhanced its capacity to cope with climate change.
(V) Meteorological Sector
Strengthening the monitoring and early warning for extreme weather and climate events and the management of meteorological disaster risks. China developed Management Measures for National Emergency Early Warning Information Release System to achieve automatic docking with state-level early warning information. It completed the analysis and assessment of flood-inducing factors and vulnerability change, and developed technical guidelines for meteorological disaster risk surveys and risk division. Besides, the national, provincial, municipal and county-level meteorological disaster risk early warning system was improved and meteorological disaster risk quantitative assessment service pilot projects were launched.
Providing ecological and meteorological services. China maintained its efforts in building the capacity of 7 atmospheric background station GHG observation station networks. It began the fog-haze value forecasts for North, Northeast, East and South China regions, updated the list of state-level environmental meteorological pollution sources, and initiated nationwide air pollution meteorological conditions forecast. Apart from this, it also conducted daily haze monitoring via the meteorological satellite monitoring platform, carried out atmospheric capacity assessment, and built the underlying database on the impact of air pollution on population health in key cities.
Carrying out climate change impact assessment for key areas and special industries. China carried out real-time quantitative assessment of the impact of drought on agriculture and water resources, and conducted targeted assessment of the climate impact of wind power. It compiled and published the report Assessment of Climate Effects of Three Gorges Project, and prepared National Assessment Report on Extreme Weather and Climate Events and Disaster Risk Management and Adaptation in China. It for the first time released the Assessment Report on the Impact of Climate Change on China's Agriculture, and implemented climate change adaptation demonstration projects in 9 provinces in the field of agriculture and food security, disaster risk management, water resources, energy, urbanization and human health, where substantive progress had been achieved.
(VI) Human Health
Preventing and controlling diseases closely related to climate change. China strengthened the surveillance, reporting and disposal of infectious diseases and further improved the direct-reporting network of infectious disease; strengthened the prevention and control of insect-borne infectious diseases such as dengue and intestinal infectious diseases such as hand-foot-and-mouth disease that are closely related climate change; and issued Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Prevention and Control Program (Second Edition), Prevention and Control Program for People Infected with H7N9 Bird Flu as well as other technical programs to guide local in key infectious diseases prevention and control.
Reinforcing the health emergency security to respond to climate change. National Health and Family Planning Commission in conjunction with China Meteorological Administration analyzed and forecast the extreme weathers and natural disasters in China; issued Notice on Current Dengue Prevention and Control Matters and Notice on Health Service Matters in Hot Weathers, carried out emergency supervision and inspection of combating flood, drought and typhoon, and organized medical emergency responses to natural disasters and medical health services in hot weathers.
Reinforcing the researches on climate change adaptation and related health problems. National Health and Family Planning Commission actively carried out the research on adaptation policy indicators, and undertook the Global Environmental Facility project "Adapt to Climate Change and Protect Human Health" in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO).
