11 October 2005
Climate change is causing a cocktail of environmental effects at the Yellow River source that threaten an ecological breakdown. The study, written by the Lanzhou-based, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, describes a chain reaction of environmental impacts driven by global warming and threatening the source of the Yellow River. Changes in the stream discharges of the Yellow River source region directly affect the water resources of the middle and lower reaches of the river. In recent years, due to climate change, the glaciers, permafrost, lakes and wetlands, and the hydrological and ecological environments in this region have undergone dramatic changes that have far-reaching implications for the economic and social conditions of people's lives not only in the source region itself, but also in the middle and low reaches of the Yellow River. The report concludes that the widespread environmental decline is also destroying the river basin’s water holding capacity, drying out the region and cutting off the lifeblood of the river.
For more information, please see here
The report is available here (pdf, 2 MB!)
