Xinhua - Climate Breakdown Could Cost China 1/3 Of Grain Production - Reuters

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BEIJING, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Rising temperatures in China could slash grain production in the world's most populous country by over a third in the second half of this century, imperilling food security, the official Xinhua agency reported on Wednesday.

China will be 2 to 3 degrees Celsius hotter on average within the next 50 to 80 years, it said, citing a report on changing weather conditions produced by six government departments. "If we do not take any measures, by the second half of the 21st century production of key agricultural products like wheat, rice and corn could fall by up to 37 percent," Xinhua quoted the report as saying.

Warmer temperatures could also increase pressure on China's already scarce water resources, change its forestry industry, cause flooding along the coastline and massive melting of glaciers, and extend the range of diseases like malaria. "These impacts will mostly be negative, and some of them cannot be reversed," the report added.

Earlier excerpts from the report were carried in state media in late December. The full text is expected to be released in the first half of 2007.It was put together mainly by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Chinese Meteorological Administration and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK335022.htm