Global sustainable development: crucial factor against climate change
By Zhang Fang | China.org.cn | January 8, 2010
Climate change, as a global issue, should be considered from a global angle and dealt with using integrated and orderly activities. This calls for worldwide efforts to achieve sustainable development, according to a top meteorological scientist in China.
Ye Duzheng, a 94-year-old academician of the Chinese Academy of Science, is a leading scientist in the atmospheric science of China and one of the earliest scientists focusing on global warming in the world.
He said after the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, the United Nations needs to take more effective action to tackle climate change.
Ye Duzheng, a 94-year-old meteorological scientist in China.[China.org.cn]
"The global climate issue became apparent in the 1980s and after 30 years, the world started to pay attention to the problem. The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference gathered many world leaders in a room and confirmed the limitation of global warming to 2 degrees. In this sense, it was successful," Ye said. "But the problem is they didn't find a solution."
"The main reason is that the United Nations didn't make good preparations for these international negotiations. They only focused on partial facts about climate change and didn't look at the underlying issues."
Ye explained that climate change is a concept, which consists of politics, economy and society. So rather than simply discussing the targets of cutting carbon dioxide emissions, what each country really needs to do is to give a clear explanation about the consequences of trying to minimize or prevent climate change.
This includes the financial losses after cutting emissions, the following unemployment which may occur due to the changing model of the economy and the difference in the economic environment of each country, as well as the potential benefits brought by global warming.
"On the basis of these data, countries can balance their interests and take the common responsibilities. We need a good performance of the world, not of a single country," Ye said. "This should be the direction for the COP16 UN Climate Change Conference in Mexico this December."
Leave our children a prosperous feature
China, like other countries, has its difficulties, which should be made known to other countries, Ye said.
For instance, he added, resources like fresh water which comes mainly from the melting glaciers, are limited and not sustainable. Places like Xinjiang in the northwest of China, relies on this process for most of its water supply.
"Global warming is bringing more water for this area from the Kunlun Mountains, which is great for agriculture and economy at present. But that's actually consuming the future supply, what can we leave our future generations if the water has run out?" he said.
"We also have the ecological vulnerable zones, such as the Sanjiangyuan area, the place where the world famous Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Lancang River originate."
The elderly academician has focused on this area for several decades; he explained that "it faces the issues of vegetation degradation and deteriorating ecological environment. Both global warming and increased human activity pose a significant threat to the local environment."
"We need to find a plan to prevent the situation from getting worse leaving the future generations nothing," he added.
The area has improved after an ecological protection project was launched in 2005.
The Sanjiangyuan area, Qinghai province, northwest China.[File Photo]
In these circumstances, efforts on climate change will be a great opportunity to change the models of economic development and separate economic growth from the increase of carbon emissions, Ye said.
The Copenhagen Conference was a chance for China to cut more emissions, he added. Faced with the negative attitude of developed countries, China should have been more active. It's time to withdraw the narrow nationalism and discuss the issue from international and scientific angles.
The way to reach global sustainable development
After more than 30-years of research on global climate change, Ye Duzheng won the 48th IMO (International Meteorological Organization) Prize in 2003 for his concept of "Orderly Human Activities."
"The science of climate change didn't get full awareness for a long while and it used to be seen as contradiction to economic development," Ye said.
But after past decades, the assumption that human activities, particularly the release of significant amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, are leading to global warming is basically confirmed by climate models.
"Scientists won't say it's 100 percent true since any experiments have uncertainties, but global warming is becoming a more and more urgent issue," Ye said. "In this case, scientific research is offering a best way to figure out the issue."
"There has been a 0.6-degree centigrade increase in global and ocean temperatures since the early 1990s, and what will happen by increasing 0.1 degree? People need to draw on simulated experiments to do the research," he said. Also, "when linking to the economy, how much we might lose if we decrease GDP by one percent to reduce emissions?"
"We need to put all these documents on the table," he said.
He also said that small island countries performed most actively at the conference, because they have seen the future if they don't take actions against climate change.
But for the ones which don't take it seriously, they need to find out from the research if they ignore the issue now, how much more they will suffer in the future. As Ye explained, when looking at all the strong evidence, all countries could and should have a plan for the long term.
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