Asia-Pacific

Weeks of extreme heat hit China power supplies and crops

Authorities in Yangtze river basin are scrambling to limit damage from climate change

People catch crabs on the dried-out riverbed of the Jialing River, a major tributary of the Yangtze River, in Chongqing, China. Photograph: EPA
People catch crabs on the dried-out riverbed of the Jialing River, a major tributary of the Yangtze River, in Chongqing, China. Photograph: EPA
Wed Aug 24 2022 - 08:25

Extreme heat in China played havoc with crops and power supplies on Wednesday, with authorities across the Yangtze river basin scrambling to limit the damage from climate change on crops and livestock.

The southwestern region of Chongqing has been hit especially hard by weeks of hot, dry weather.

According to one resident, both his water and his power had been cut after a four-day mountain fire in the district of Jiangjin. “People need to go to a power centre over 10 kilometres away to charge their phones,” he said.

Chongqing's agriculture bureau drew up emergency measures to protect livestock at more than 5,000 large-scale pig farms, which have faced "severe challenges" as a result of the heat, state media said.

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Damage to crops and water scarcity could "spread to other food-related sectors, resulting in a substantial price increase or a food crisis in the most severe case", said Lin Zhong, a professor at City University of Hong Kong who has studied the impact of climate change on agriculture in China.

China’s National Meteorological Center downgraded its national heat warning to “orange” on Wednesday after 12 consecutive days of “red alerts”, but temperatures are still expected to exceed 40 degrees in Chongqing, Sichuan and other parts of the Yangtze basin.

China has warned it is especially vulnerable to climate change, and natural disasters are expected to proliferate in coming years as a result of more volatile weather.

[ Europe facing ‘worst drought for 500 years’ ]

China, the world’s largest source of climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions, is committed to bringing carbon dioxide to a peak before 2030 and to become “carbon neutral” by 2060, and it is also racing ahead in renewable energy development.

But the drought has eroded hydropower generation and coal-fired power is again on the rise, with plants in Anhui province raising output by 12 per cent compared with normal years. — Reuters