China and Global Change Opportunities for Collaboration (1992) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-14
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Due to energy inefficiencies, resource consumption patterns, and increased fertilizer applications, China will alter the regional and global atmospheric chemical composition due to increased trace gas fluxes. As in other countries, the issues of global environmental change have emerged from the scientific community.
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Besides emphasizing the regional and local impacts of putative global environmental change, Chinese research also emphasizes studies of historical change and studies of land use problems that are ubiquitous both in China and globally. Studies of phenomena that impact the global environment such as biogenic and industrial emissionsare apparently of lower priority.
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Although China's focus is practical given its population growth, current and projected industrial base, demands for fossil fuel, and rate of economic development, China's impact on global change is important to the international community. Even though China's basic global change research is expected to remain locally and regionally focused, important opportunities for international collaboration exist that would increase China's and the international community's understanding of the causes and consequences of global environmental change.
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The Chinese national climate program consists of five subprograms, which parallel WMO climate programs: (1) the national climate data subprogram, located at the State Meteorological Administration (SMA)
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CHINESE PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL GLOBAL CHANGE PROGRAMS Chapter 4 presents a broad overview of Chinese activities in IGBP, WCRP, and the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (HD/GEC) Program that is sponsored by the International Social Science Council.
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Extensive and sophisticated work on agricultural ecosystems was identified at the Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology that provides very valuable foundations for further studies. Biospheric Aspects of the Hydrological Cycle and Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment Chinese researchers are active in modeling and measuring interactions between the land surface and the atmosphere.
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Finally, because of China's historical dependence upon irrigation, hydrology is a mammoth enterprise, and considerable data on surface and groundwater hydrology exists at all scales, though these data are not as yet well integrated into the global change endeavor. Overall, China is poised to conduct significant work under the joint IGBP-WCRP Biospheric Aspects of the Hydrological Cycle and Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment.
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Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Program According to NSFC, China plans to participate in the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (HD/GEC) Program.
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Chinese atmospheric chemistry research has been conducted primarily in areas of urban pollution, for example, suspended particles, O3 and O3 precursors, and toxic species. Recently, there have been some important efforts to address large-scale background atmospheric chemistry issues that have regional or global implications.
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Aerosol measurements over China, Japan, and the northern Pacific have convincingly demonstrated that dust storms originating from central Asia are the major sources of dust, sulfate, nitrate, and other particulate matter transported to the northern Pacific. Given the important role played by aerosol particles in atmospheric radiation, the effect of Asian dust storms on regional as well as global climate needs to be carefully studied.
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The first problem involves increased water pollution due to increasing population, urbanization, and demand for industrial and agricultural outputs. The second problem concerns the uneven distribution of water resources, since most of the water supply is concentrated in the southern part of China while the northern areas have experienced increasing levels of drought in recent years.
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Much of the work under way is in the category of historical analysis. Many components are available to develop a focused land cover change program in China: maps, remote sensing, historical records, and some modeling capacity.
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The panel concentrated on two areas: enhancing Chinese contributions to international research programs and enhancing biLateral collaborative science. While problems exist in the Chinese global change program and in the way science is organized in China, it should be pointed out that the Chinese are in good company.
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