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10 Oct 05 Global warming drying out source of China's mighty Yellow River BEIJING : Global warming is leading to widespread ecological decline at the headwaters of the Yellow River, threatening water supplies to 120 million people, an environmental group said. In a study commissioned by Greenpeace, scientists said Monday global warming was melting glaciers and permafrost, which in turn was breaking up and drying out the land, turning grasslands into deserts and leaving lakes and rivers without water. "Climate change is wreaking havoc at the birthplace of China's mother river," said Greenpeace China climate change researcher Li Mo Xuan. "The plight of the Yellow River is a grave warning. Millions of people are at risk from climate change and the world must act now to reduce carbon dioxide emissions." The Tibetan Plateau, known as the "roof of the world" and the source of both the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers -- China's two longest -- has seen an overall temperature rise of nearly one degree Celsius during the past 30 years, the report said. "The higher the altitude, the faster the temperature rises," it said. The rise in temperature has resulted in the glacier area in the region decreasing by 17 percent in 2000 compared with 1966. In the last 30 years, the shrinkage rate of the glacier area has been 10 times faster than that of the previous 300 years. "From here it is a domino effect that harms the flora, fauna, landscape and people of the Yellow River source region -- and ultimately the river itself," said Professor Liu Shiyin, the leading author of the report. Due to its particular hydrology, the Yellow River is very sensitive to even small changes in its water supply, the report said. Over 120 million people rely on the river's water for domestic as well as agricultural and industrial uses. The river's source region plays the major role in supplying the whole river basin, providing 55.6 percent of the water for the length of the river above the city of Lanzhou, about 550 kilometers (330 miles) from the river's source. "Water shortage and reduced run-off at the source will have far-reaching impacts upon the economy, society and people's life, not only in the source region but in the middle and low reaches of the Yellow River," Liu said. The Yellow River has historically devastated northern China with its frequent floods in the middle and lower reaches where Chinese civilization has flourished for thousands of years. Since the early 1990s, however, the river has increasingly dried up in the lower reaches, not only due to ecological imbalances in the headwaters but also because of growing demands for water and environmental degradation along its course. - AFP /ls links Related articles on Global issues: global warming |
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