Drought in China Diminishes Wheat Crops

I apologize for the lack of posts this month, as I have been extremely busy so far in 2009. I am currently preparing many articles and working on additions to this blog, to improve access to resources and events focused on SRI.

Climate scientists working for the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have forecast more catastrophic weather events in the near future: more floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and droughts. Mainstream media worldwide have already reported on the significant increased unpredictable and extreme weather events linked to global warming

Let's take a very brief glimpse at China’s water problems associated with climate changed-induced extreme weather events in the past two years:

• Begun on May 26, 2008, the 20-day torrential rains, floods, and landslides in the 15 provinces of eastern and southern China left more than 200 dead or missing and forced 1.3 million people to evacuate. The damages were estimated at $2.2 billion.
• In the first three months of 2008, China suffered a devastating drought in Liaoning Province, which left nearly 700,000 people without drinking water; approximately 66 reservoirs dried up, and 1,700 new wells were drilled in a desperate search for drinking water, according to Reuters and Xinhua. Also affected were 19.4 million hectares (48 million acres) of land and 3.3 million hectares (8.15 million acres) of cropland. Water is a serious problem in China: annually about 30 million rural and 20 million urban Chinese face drinking-water shortages.
• In mid-2008, Shanxi Province was also hit with drought: 560,000 people had no drinking water, according to Xinhua news agency.
• In mid-2007 in Liaoning, the worst drought in 30 years left more than 8 million people without water; nearly 90 reservoirs dried up and 25,000 wells could no longer supply enough water, and 1.4 million hectares of crops were damaged, according to Xinhua news agency. In Inner Mongolia Province, 870,000 people and 1.5 million livestock had no water (and many livestock died of hunger and thirst).
• In August 2008, Sichuan Province suffered the worst drought in 50 years, with no rain for more than 70 days: more than 10 million people had no drinking water, and economic losses totaled at least 9.9 billion yuan. Two-thirds of lakes and rivers dried up, and more than 200 reservoirs were extremely low; the Chongqing section of the Yangtze River was lowest in 100 years.

Today, I came across this news clip on Reuters titled 'Rare Drought Hits China'. In light of China's already severe water issues, I fail to understand how this drought is classified as 'Rare', but I believe it highlights the trends pointing towards an elevated price for wheat, due to a increasing uncertainty in supply from climate change induced weather events and water shortages.