'Chances are extremely likely that human-induced climate change caused the extreme flooding you saw this summer in places like China and Europe.'Ĭhina, the most populous country in the world, with 1.4 billion people, is now the planet's largest contributor to climate change, responsible for around 28 percent of carbon dioxide emissions that warm the Earth, though the United States is the biggest polluter historically.Īs world leaders take part this week in the climate summit, China is being criticized for not setting a more ambitious timeline for phasing out fossil fuels. 'As the atmosphere warms up, air can hold more moisture, so when storms occur, they can rain out more extreme precipitation,' said Richard Seager, a climate scientist at Columbia University. The flooding disaster is the worst that farmers in Henan can remember in 40 years, Wang said, but it is also a preview of the kind of extreme conditions the country is likely to face as the planet warms and the weather patterns growers depend upon are increasingly destabilized. He lost his summer crop to floods, and in late October the ground was still too wet to plant the next season's crop, winter wheat. Pictured: Two grandmothers with their granddaughter trade vegetables at a market on the outskirts of Shanghai, June 3 Local media has recently published lists of recommended goods to store at home including biscuits and instant noodles, vitamins, radios and flashlights. It's all gone,' farmer Wang Yuetang's said. 'Farmers on the lowland basically have no harvest, nothing.' climate summit underway in Glasgow, Scotland. It's one of the many calamities around the world that are giving urgency to the U.N. Three months after torrential rains flooded much of central China's Henan province, stretches of the country's flat agricultural heartland are still submerged in several inches of water. The state planning body has called for the timely replanting of vegetables, urging local governments to support fast-growing produce, according to the report.Ĭhina has about 100 million mu (6.7 million hectares) planted with vegetables, the agriculture ministry has said. The island country has its own democratic government, but Beijing insists it is part of its territory and has in recent months been ramping up pressure over the issue.īut in response to the speculation, state media warned against 'overactive imaginations' and told the public not to panic over the announcement, saying the government only wanted to ensure people were not caught off guard in the scenario of an emergency lockdown. Pictured: A neighbourhood market in Beijing on November 2, 2021 In a sign that the government is becoming increasingly concerned over the food shortages, Chinese authorities have recently revived an anti-food waste campaign that first launched last year. Some in China took to the internet to speculate over why the directive had been issued, with some suggesting Beijing was imposing emergency measures in preparation to invade Taiwan. It is not clear which vegetables China holds in reserves and how big those reserves are. Information about prices and supply and demand of commodities should be released in a timely manner to stabilise people's expectations, it added.Ĭhina also plans to release vegetable reserves 'at an appropriate time' to counter rising prices, according to a state TV report late on Monday. The commerce ministry said local authorities should buy vegetables that can be stored well in advance and also strengthen emergency delivery networks. The pandemic has brought an increased focus on food security, with the government drafting a food security law and outlining new efforts to curb food waste. Spinach was more expensive than some cuts of pork at 16.67 yuan ($2.60) per kg, a vegetable price index in Shouguang, a trading hub in Shandong, indicated.Īlthough prices have eased in recent days, economists expect a significant year-on-year increase in consumer price inflation for October, the first in five months. Last week, prices of cucumbers, spinach and broccoli had more than doubled from early October. The ministry's statement late on Monday urged local authorities to do a good job in ensuring supply and stable prices, and to give early warnings of any supply problems. Heavy flooding and Covid lockdowns have lead to fears of shortages in the country ![]() A farmer tries to drain a corn field still water logged months after torrential rain flooded the region of Zhaoguo village in central China's Henan province on Friday, October 22, 2021.
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