China must stand on the frontline of climate battlefield

• Source: Global Times
• [23:26 December 16 2009]
• Comments

By Gao Zhikai

Ample evidence demonstrates that increased carbon emissions may cause further deterioration of global climate change and grave consequences await mankind if no prompt and effective measures are taken.

When talking about climate change, many people in China tend to mention the potential impact of global warming on the melting of the glaciers in the Arctic and the resulting rise of the sea level.

Few Chinese have ever been to the Arctic and most of China is way above the sea level.

Many Chinese may come to the wrong conclusion that the impact of global climate change on them would be miniscule even if the sea level rises by several score centimeters or even by a couple of meters.

The sense of urgency or the fear of crisis may be missing among most people in China at this critical moment in history.

In fact, if no proper measures are taken, China may become one of the largest victims of global climate change. The same global warming factors which may melt the glaciers in the Arctic may also cause the melting of the glaciers on the Himalayas and the Qinghai- Tibet Plateau.

These are surrounded by the rapidly developing economies of China and India, whose carbon emissions are expected to increase dramatically in the coming years and decades.