Sea Level Rising

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Sea Level Rising

• 18,000-kilometer of continental coastline.
• Most Chinese seaside cities are less than four
  meters above sea level, with the lowest even less
  than one meter
• China coastline holds 70 of Chinas largest
  cities, over half of the domestic population, and
  about 60 of the nations economy.
• Sea level have risen over the past 50 years.
• But those levels increased faster between 1998
  and 2000, rising on average 2.5 millimeters a
  year.
• If sea level rose 1 meter inundation or frequent
  flooding would cover 125,000 km of Chinas land
  which would affect the homes to about 70 million
  people.

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Sea Level Rising (cont)

• Total length of the mainland dikes is about
  13,000 km.
• the North China coastal plains alone would
  require 500 km of standard dikes to prevent
  flooding from a 1 meter sea level rise.
• This would cost about 370 million US dollar.
• Right now the current dike is 6.9 meter high and
  which is enough to withstand storms that occur
  every 200 years.
• But due to sea level rising, stronger storms are
  predicted to occur.
• Reinforced to 8.5 meters would cost 780 million
  US dollars.

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Desertification

• China is among the worlds largest desert nation.
• More than 27 or 2.5 million square kilometers
  of our country consists of useless sand.
• Desertification costs China 2-3 billion US
  dollars annually.
• About 110 million people suffer from this impact.
• Another 2,500 sq km of land turns to desert each
  year.
• More than half of the 4,000 lakes in the Qinghai
  province are disappearing due to drought.
• The severity of the impact is exacerbated by
  over pumping of aquifers.
• Most of the warming has been in northern areas,
  including Qinghai Province, and in the winter.

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Sources

• http//www.ccchina.gov.cn/en/NewsInfo.asp?NewsId7
  518
• http//www.usembassy-china.org.cn/sandt/clchng.htm
  /
• http//www.climate.org/pubs/climate_alert/articles
  /8.2/china.shtml
• http//www.gluckman.com/ChinaDesert.html
• http//www.climatehotmap.org/asia.html
• http//www.aaas.org/international/ehn/fisheries/hi
  nrichs.htm
• http//www.ccchina.gov.cn/en/NewsInfo.asp?NewsId7
  459
• http//www.tqnyc.org/NYC052139/Asia.htmChina
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_China
• http//english.peopledaily.com.cn/english/200104/1
  2/eng20010412_67559.html