The Chinese government is dealing with rising sea levels across its coastline, and it has pointed a finger at climate change as the culprit.
China’s State Oceanic Administration cites climate change as well as El Nino and La Nina as factors that contributed to the record high sea levels recorded in 2016. The average sea level recorded was up 38mm when compared to 2015, with April, September, November and December all registering record highs.
“Against the background of global climate change, China’s coastal air and sea temperatures have soared, coastal air pressure has fallen and sea levels have also soared,” they noted in reaction to this report.
Coastal erosion has become a concern for many places in China, and there is little action that can be taken at present.
The human and economic cost were also discussed at a press briefing, and in 2016 the rising sea is thought to have cost 60 people their lives, as well as being the direct cause of 5 billion yuan in damage.
Pollution was also addressed, and the State Oceanic Administration decried the current levels of contamination in the coastal waterways.
Clearly the conditions that exist in our environment are creating problems for most countries. A vast amount of the Chinese population lives near the coastline, so they have every reason to take climate change seriously.
While there are changes happening in how China approaches energy production, we can’t know if we are doing enough to stem the tide of climate change.
[via reuters]
