China’s Yangtze Basin Will See Weather Extremes, Report Says

Extreme weather events caused by a warming climate pose a growing threat to China’s Yangtze River basin, which encompasses Shanghai and some of the most productive agricultural land in the nation, according to a new study. The basin, which cuts through the center of China, has already seen a spike in floods, heat waves, and drought over the last two decades, according to the study conducted by the conservation group WWF. And over the next 50 years, the report predicts, temperatures will increase an average of 1.5 to 2 degrees C (2.7 to 4 degrees F). Of particular concern is the threat of rising waters as increasing glacier melt from the Himalayas flows into the basin, posing a greater threat of flooding to major cities and damage to corn, winter wheat, and rice crops. Sea level in Shanghai has risen by 4.6 inches in the last three decades, and will rise another 7 inches by 2050, according to the report. “If we take the right steps now, adaptation measures will pay for themselves,” said Xu Ming, lead author of the report.