China Claim Global Warming Benefits Tibet

Chinese state media claimed this week that global warming is helping produce a increase crops and tourism in Tibet.

Citing Qin Dahe, the former head of the China Meteorological Administration in the China Daily newspaper: “Warming is good for agriculture and tourism. It has increased the growing season of crops” which came in an otherwise damning report on climate change. The Tibetan plateau could face devastating effects as the ice there melts. It is the worlds third largest store of ice.

China is relying on tourism to fund development in Tibet, one of the poorest regions in China. In the first half of 2009 more than 2.7 million people visited Tibet, nearly three times that of 2008.

While farming and tourism stand to benefit, Qin underlined a series of negative consequences that global warming will have in Tibet and surrounding areas. Temperatures are rising four times faster than elsewhere in China, and the Tibetan glaciers are melting faster that anywhere else in the world.

Source: Google