Climate change will intensify the so-called water cycle, the continuous movement of water within the Earth and the atmosphere in the form of rain, snow and clouds, they noted in their sixth annual assessment published on Monday. “Extreme floods and droughts are the worst threats to China’s social and economic development in the context of climate change,” Wang Wen, professor at Nanjing’s Hohai University and one of the lead authors of the IPCC report, said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
To protect vital infrastructure, industries and population centres against extreme weather, authorities will need to build better systems for the storage, supply and drainage of water to enhance the nation’s resilience against both floods and droughts, he said. Early warning systems, enhanced monitoring and forecasts of meteorological and hydrological capabilities are just as important, he said.
