Yangtze ‘Facing Climate Threat’
The ecosystems of the Yangtze River are under threat, according to a new report from WWF (formerly World Wildlife Fund), which the organization calls, “the first ever large scale report on the Yangtze and climate change adaptation.” BBC reports:
In a new report, WWF-China says the temperature in the basin area of China’s longest river has risen steadily over the past two decades.
This has led to an increase in flooding, heat waves and drought.
Further temperature rises will have a disastrous effect on biodiversity in and along the river, the report says.
The WWF – formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund – predicts that in the next 50 years temperatures will go up by between 1.5C and 2C.
POSTED COMMENTS: 2 Responses
WWF China must have to watch what they say in the report. While acknowledging that global warming is the main factor, the report repeats the same old crap that the propaganda department has been putting out for years about the Tibetan nomadic herders being responsible for degrading the grasslands of Sanjiangyuan area, which is why the nomads all have to be settled and all their herds taken from them (WFF doesn’t repeat that part), and ignores the many excessive and unconsidered interventions by the Chinese government. WWF China doesn’t want to say that the most effective way to improve the Yangtze headwaters area is to stop all development now: no mining, no dam building, no military bases, no prisons, etc… that is, the whole “Go West” campaign. If you doubt this spend a few hours looking at the Tibetan Plateau in Google Earth (skip the low resolution images). You’ll see a vast, mostly empty landscape, but with major scars, every one some ill considered project, what Beijing calls “development”. As for Tibetans damaging the environment? Not a single example.
If you are interested in pure propaganda download the English version of this WWF China and read it. It is supposedly about the Yangtze in the context of environmental issues and it doesn’t even mention the huge dams built or under construction on the Yangtze and its tributaries or the water diversion projects! Really! It is shocking! Maybe the Chinese version is better. I would be interested to know.