Supplementary Assessments for PES 7045 Natural Resource Governance Assignment Sample 2023
Title
Implications of climate change impacts for natural resource governance
Introduction
The world around us is changing rapidly and this is leading to a significant impact on the environment. In the present world, human activities had increased to a greater extent and these activities are having a major negative impact on the environment and the entire ecosystem. With this, the concern for environmental safety is also increasing and due to this reason, the government authorities are taking strong actions towards it.
Climate change is one of the significant things that is affecting the environment (Vesco et. al. 2020). The government at national and international levels is working effectively toward natural resource governance for addressing the increasing issues related to climate change.
This essay will focus on discussing the different implications of climate change impact on natural resource governance in China. Along with this, the author would be explaining that how the chosen country is working for addressing the issue of climate management.
Main Body
Climate change in China
In general terms, climate change is being referred to as the change in the earth’s climate at both national and global levels. The increasing human activities and industrialisation are the major reason behind increasing global warming and climate change.
The world is moving towards technological advancements. All the developed and developing nations are working effectively towards being more effective and generating a higher economy but the environment is also a crucial factor that needs to be considered. It is important for the government to understand the impact of climate change on the environment and the lives of living beings (Khan et. al. 2021).
For addressing this issue they have to focus on taking strict action related to this. The government needs to focus on making strict rules and regulations for natural resource governance. This is helping the nations around the world to manage their natural resources and changing climate in an effective manner.
Extreme weather events in China
China being a technologically advanced nation is facing issues related to climate changes to a greater extent as compared to other developing nations. The greater industrialisation in China is considered as one of the major issues and the reason behind the increasing climate change. Climate change in China had developed several risks for the nation that is affecting the nation to a greater extent.
The increased climate changes had lead to extreme weather events in China and this is a major risk for the nation that needs to be addressed (Change, 2017). Unexpected weather or extreme weather events are the major implications of climate change that are affecting different nations of the world. It can be said that the government authorities need to develop effective rules and regulations that can help them in managing and reducing the risk of such issues in an effective manner.
The Chinese government needs to focus on making major changes in their government policies that can help them in being more effective in this management. It is essential for the government to understand that they have to make strict rules and regulations for the industries that are major contributors to carbon emissions.
The uncertainty related to the extreme climate is also a major risk that is being faced by the chosen country as a result of climate change. The expanding human activities in China are the major reason that is affecting climate change (Li et. al. 2021). Along with this, the economic expansion of china had led them towards a significant increase in the emission of greenhouse gases and this is affecting human health to a greater extent.
The increasing climate change is having a direct or indirect impact on human health. The researcher studies had revealed that China is having the largest emission of Methane and black carbon. Both of them are major contributors to global warming and this is also increasing the risk of health issues among the Chinese population.
Declining Glaciers
Another major risk that is faced China by increasing issues of climate change is the decreasing of the glacial area. Due to increasing climate change the temperature of China is also rising and this is leading to the reduction in the glacial area. In recent decades due to increasing global warming, the temperature near the Tianshan mountainous area and the areas of Xinjiang are increasing continuously.
Xinjiang is having one of the largest concentrations of continental glaciers in China and the increasing issue of climate changes is creating greater risk for them (Fang et. al. 2018). The area of Xinjiang accounts for around 48.23% of the total Chinese glacier reserves and climate change is a major risk for them.
The studies had revealed that the increasing human activities and climate change can lead to a major negative impact on these glaciers and can affect the nation to a greater extent. With the increasing concern for this, the government is working effectively for reducing the factors that are leading to climate change and affecting the entire nation negatively.
Issues related to water availability
Human activities and the climate change is also increasing risk related to the water supply management in China and this is a major issue that needs to be considered by the nation in an effective manner while working on the natural resource governance. The water resources of Xinjiang are dependent on the glacier snowmelt and due to the extremely changing environment, they are at risk and insecure (Li et. al. 2017).
Due to the increasing temperature in Xinjiang reason the variations in the runoff glacier snowmelt had increased to a greater extent. As a result, the nation had to face issues related to the variable supply of water and had also reduced the stability and reproducibility of the water circulation system that is creating a major risk for the nation (Xia et. al. 2017). This had created pressure on the government to focus on taking effective measures for natural resource governance.
The Chinese government is having long-term strategies for the management of natural resources. With the changing climatic conditions, it is crucial for the nation to focus on making their natural resource governance more effective so that they can reduce issues that are faced by them as an impact on climate change.
For addressing this issue and reducing the risk led by climate change on water availability the nation needs to focus on using the climate models that can help them in predicting the climate in the near future. Along with this, the government is looking forward to work on effective water resource planning that can help them in managing this risk in an efficient manner.
The increasing rate of air pollution and soil contamination is one of the major reasons behind the dissatisfaction from the Chinese government. As a result of climate change the threat on health and livelihood of the Chinese population had raised. The environmental challenges that are being faced by china are the results of decades of industrialisation that had affected their climate to a greater extent (Pickson et. al. 2020).
Due to rising temperature some of the coastal cities of china are expected to be underwater by the end of century. This is one of the major implications of the impact of climate change on china. The nation needs to make effective decisions for working on this in an efficient manner.
Health Issues in China due to climate change
The Chinese government is working effectively for developing effective strategies and regulations that can help them in managing the issues related to increasing climate change but is not paying much attention on the health of the population. Due to changing climate the changes in the water and air quality is having a major impact on the health of the individuals.
Mortality is highly affected due to extreme weather conditions and the risk of different infectious diseases had also increased. The changes in the climate are leading an major impact on the health of Chinese population by increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases and many more (Zhang et. al. 2016). Along with this the climate sensitive infectious diseases had also increased to a greater extent.
It can be said that with the increasing risk of human health issues it is responsibility of the natural resource management governance to involve the humans for reducing the carbon emission and climate change as well. The graph mentioned below represents the increasing carbon emission of China in the last decades
Figure 1: Increasing carbon emission of China
(Source: Smith, 2018)
With the increasing health issues in china it can be said that it is important for the authorities to focus on addressing the health risks associated with the climate change. The increased level of air pollution is a major issue behind the respiratory diseases that are faced by the Chinese population (Zhu and Fan, 2021).
It can be said that the government needs to work effectively for improving the climate-heath relationship that can help them in addressing these issues. It can be said that the climate change is having a major impact of different aspects of china such as economic growth, government and public health as well.
China is one of the world’s top emitter and producer of the greenhouse gas emission and this is the reason that china needs to make effective efforts that can help them in addressing this issue. The image mentioned below shows that china is one of the major contributors of emission of heat as per the statistics of 2019.
Figure 2: Emission of Heat 2019
(Source: Sandalow, 2020)
Increased risk of natural disasters in China
The risk for the natural disasters in china had increased to a greater extent. The events such as heavy rainfall and devastating flood would become common for china in the upcoming decades and this will destroy acres of crops and will affect the human life as well.
Moreover this would let the county towards economic crisis and will affect the economic development of the nations that is having a negative impact on other economic factors as well. It can be said that the climate change had led major implications for the nation and china needs to respond to them in an effective manner. Being an top contributor in carbon emission china needs to work effectively for addressing the issues related to climate change at both national and global level (Liu et. al. 2020).
Respond of china government for addressing climate change
China is focusing on understanding the reason behind this climate change. The major reason is the economic development of the nation without having effective environmental regulations. The country had used the natural resources at a greater extent without managing the limit for the consumption of the resource.
It can be said that the natural resource governance need to be effective from the beginning so that they could have managed the situation in an efficient manner (Hornsey and Fielding, 2020). Due to the alarming circumstances china had now started focusing on their environment sustainably.
The natural resource governance in china had understood the implications that are being faced by china due to the impact of climate change. The government had incorporated the approach of sustainable development in all the planning and management of the natural resources and challenges related to it.
The nation is now working for maintaining a balance between the economic growth and environmental protection that can help them in attaining sustainable development of the nation without compromising the health of the population. The natural resources governance needs to be effective in taking better measures that can help the nation in addressing the challenges and risks that are being faced by them due to climate change or the implications related to it (Duan and Miller, 2019).
Making the major transformation in their working process and the shift from the renewable sources to non-renewable sources is critical for china. The combined efforts of all the stakeholders are required for addressing the issue of climate change in china.
Actions of China Government on Weather Change
The environmental crisis in China is the result of rapid industrialisation threatening the life and help of people living in the country. It has lead to climatic change. The major reason for climate change is being the largest source of greenhouse emissions involved (Fonseca et. al. 2020). The reason is the intensive carbon using industries providing environmental challenges resulting in water scarcity on contamination of natural resources.
China is emitting a large amount of carbon dioxide, methane, and also nitrous oxide as compared to other countries. Coal is the major energy consumption source in China which emits carbon in massive amounts leading to greenhouse emission gases. The government of China is now considering this concern as allowing due to pressure exerted by other countries across the world..
China is starting to work actively on formulating different kinds of global responses for the climatic change. They are making commitments towards the UN to work on the climatic changes. The major impact of climate change is elemental degradation.
China government is keeping it on priority and participating in the global discussion on climate and has become a leader in climate change. China has announced participation in the Paris agreement which follows to work on the rules and regulations decided for controlling climate change.
The Chinese government is researching and developing many programs like advance research project agency – energy that completely focuses upon driving progress to the clean energy technology set up Anne introducing for the commercial use. Many voluntary programs were started by the government such as the natural gas star program. It works with many businesses to focus on the reduction of emissions.
It is getting recognition from native people. Several policies are implying a tax on carbon emissions like a carbon tax to promote less consumption of carbon.
The condition of extreme weather is an alarming situation in China. The Chinese government is considering this impact as a risk for environmental degradation in China (Naidoo and Fisher, 2020).
Therefore, China is focusing upon modernisation based upon certain concepts or conditions. The country is known to have a large population base and the consumption of natural resources is high to support the needs. It is also been observed that the government is making plans for systematic conservation of natural resources sustainably.
Measures of China Government on Preserving natural resources
Sustainable development is a major focus of the Chinese government to improvise the extreme weather change condition. It is very important to maintain the correct ratio of the natural resources to maintain the level of weather. The Government of China has started introducing Environmental Protection Act and including it in the national policies.
This helps to focus upon environmental pollution rational exploitation of resources and ecological destruction in a controlled manner. Government is focusing on providing the guide related to the principles for simultaneous planning implementation and economic construction over an area depending upon the natural resources (Wu et. al. 2018).
For extreme weather conditions, China government also implemented various policies and programs that help to reduce the emission and drive changing technology with a flexible market-based approach and cost-effective for reducing the emission.
Measures taken by China government to prevent extreme weather conditions
The clean air act is the major foundation installed by the China government for removing the existing climate conditions. The policy focused upon reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other gases such as methane, carbon dioxide. China also seeks help from businessmen for researching, developing, and deploying many clean I know the technologies I’m also setting the efficiency standard for improvisation of energy with the help of advanced appliances.
The defence department of the country but shared the responsibilities of planning global security which can focus upon the climatic changes and their consequences on the country.
The department of transportation assigns certain standards for improving the fuel economy of motor vehicles. Also coma the government started to invest in Clean Energy fuels for improvising transportation in the country. It was the most helpful strategy as 60% of the total pollution is derived from transportation.
Therefore it is very necessary to check and eradicate the issue from the roots. The government is working on promoting International cooperation for environmental protection. It has formulated the Chinese agenda 21 for the 21st century that includes the department for the strategies developed for sustainable development. China also carried out responsibilities for international conventions and agreements on environmental issues by joining approving or signing them.
China has focused upon some important documents and other state programs for action plans some of them were action plans for Forestry in the 21st century is in and also 21st century Marine agenda. The Chinese government also successfully promoted the sustainable development of a nation in the high-level Round table conference on agent at 21 internationally.
Therefore, this act also helps to maintain the extreme climatic changes or conditions of China with impactful results in the country.
The environmental protection committee formed under the State Council and leaders work for environmental protection by Studying, examining all the principles and measures, and policies which can be related to the development of the country’s economy and the environment. The national environmental agency is administrating on resource administration department, an industrial department under the guidance of government at different levels.
Currently, there are more than 2500 departments for Environmental Protection and administration. They are engaging 88,000 employees for monitoring, controlling, inspection, scientific research, statistic collection, education, and the publicity of agendas for protecting natural resources.
For various purposes, China is rising to advertise knowledge for Environmental Protection among the natives for raising their consciousness regarding environmental protection. It provides a code of conduct and environmental ethics. The government is also celebrating various kinds of National Day related to World Environmental Day, love the bird’s week and tree plantation. These celebrating days helps to understand the importance of natural elements of the environment and to celebrate it.
China government on current Pandemic situation
In the current scenario, China is facing a Covid pandemic out breaking at a very fast rate and also, affecting the Healthcare system of the country. The approach which traditional health care system followed in China for any kind of preparedness against the disaster for prevention was a failure in detecting the spreading of the virus at the early stage. The hospital became overbearing and there was a shortage of protective gear for hospital staff.
Consequently, the pandemic situation resulted in the cost of resources and manpower. For limiting the spread of any infection, the Chinese government played an important role in deciding various measures in such a short span to control the spread of the virus in the country (Monteiro et. al. 2019).
The Chinese government focus upon the latest technologies, innovative ideas to tackle the disease with the help of the Internet, data analysis, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing. China-focused upon improving the health system arrange for the pandemic scenario at a very faster rate. The lab researchers started working upon vaccination to control of preventing the infection.
Further, it was very commendable that the government also focused upon employing at this time by helping the native through financial help for developing the protective gear in a very short period. For that was a witness that Gorman restriction on the movement and sanitising the whole city at a huge space.
The Chinese government also provided health insurance screen two native people for protecting their families and assisting them in any kind of health support. The government showed strictness towards the breaching code of conduct in the pandemic scenario by imposing fines and other punishments. Also, vaccine in China was developed very soon to protect the people from the pandemic.
China also introduced various budget schemes. The national development Reform Commission was introduced on 27 January 2020, to provide an emergency investment of an amount of 300 million Yuan in the budget. The hospitals of Wuhan were provided financial help for treating UN purchasing necessary medical equipment and other facilities.
Another step taken by the Chinese government at the time of the health crisis is the set administration of taxation introduced on 11th February 2020. It provides the guidelines for tax policies for preventing the various type of control /prevention caused by the pandemic (Gillingham and Stock, 2018).
The act included 12 policies for supporting, preventing, treating, supplying, and resumption of work. The ministry of finance pre-allocated various subsidies for epidemic control and prevention on February 23, 2020. The total budget was 99.5 Billion Yuan allocated to all the levels for financing different departments working for the health crisis face by China.
The government also announced various kinds of tax relief measures to support the financial situation of native people in the pandemic scenario. It provided a guideline to advance the process of work resumption and at the same time controlling the epidemic in the company.
Further, it can be noted that the government has provided certain rules in the working companies 2 support their working and also protecting the employees from the pandemic (Shen et. al. 2020).
Conclusion
With the increasing issues related to climate change the government had now started considering climate change as a major concern for them that needs to be reduced. The government is working for reducing the carbon intensity and the amount of carbon emission by the end of 2030. Along with this they are making continuous efforts for reducing the use of non-renewable sources of energy.
For this the country is working effectively to install solar and wind power generators that can product 1.2 billion kilowatts by the end of 2030. Also for reducing the carbon emission effectively they are working to ban the sales of has powered vehicles and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. It can be said that the government had developed long term goals for addressing the issue of climate change and is also working effectively on it.
References
Books and journals
Change, M.S.S.I.C., (2017). Climate change.
Duan, R. and Miller, S., (2019). Climate change in China: A study of news diversity in party-sponsored and market-oriented newspapers. Journalism, p.1464884919873173.
Fang, L., Tao, S., Zhu, J. and Liu, Y., (2018). Impacts of climate change and irrigation on lakes in arid northwest China. Journal of Arid Environments, 154, pp.34-39.
Fonseca, L.M., Domingues, J.P. and Dima, A.M., (2020). Mapping the sustainable development goals relationships. Sustainability, 12(8), p.3359.
Gillingham, K. and Stock, J.H., (2018). The cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 32(4), pp.53-72.
Hornsey, M.J. and Fielding, K.S., (2020). Understanding (and reducing) inaction on climate change. Social Issues and Policy Review, 14(1), pp.3-35.
Khan, I., Hou, F. and Le, H.P., (2021). The impact of natural resources, energy consumption, and population growth on environmental quality: Fresh evidence from the United States of America. Science of the Total Environment, 754, p.142222.
Li, J., Yuan, G.L., Wu, M.Z., Sun, Y., Han, P. and Wang, G.H., (2017). Evidence for persistent organic pollutants released from melting glacier in the central Tibetan Plateau, China. Environmental Pollution, 220, pp.178-185.
Li, M., Wang, T., Shu, L., Qu, Y., Xie, M., Liu, J., Wu, H. and Kalsoom, U., (2021). Rising surface ozone in China from 2013 to 2017: A response to the recent atmospheric warming or pollutant controls?. Atmospheric Environment, 246, p.118130.
Liu, H., Huang, B. and Yang, C., (2020). Assessing the coordination between economic growth and urban climate change in China from 2000 to 2015. Science of the total environment, 732, p.139283.
Monteiro, N.B.R., da Silva, E.A. and Neto, J.M.M., (2019). Sustainable development goals in mining. Journal of Cleaner Production, 228, pp.509-520.
Naidoo, R. and Fisher, B., (2020). Reset sustainable development goals for a pandemic world.
Pickson, R.B., He, G., Ntiamoah, E.B. and Li, C., (2020). Cereal production in the presence of climate change in China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27(36), pp.45802-45813.
Shen, M., Huang, W., Chen, M., Song, B., Zeng, G. and Zhang, Y., (2020). (Micro) plastic crisis: Un-ignorable contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Journal of Cleaner Production, 254, p.120138.
Vesco, P., Dasgupta, S., De Cian, E. and Carraro, C., (2020). Natural resources and conflict: A meta-analysis of the empirical literature. Ecological Economics, 172, p.106633.
Wu, J., Guo, S., Huang, H., Liu, W. and Xiang, Y., (2018). Information and communications technologies for sustainable development goals: state-of-the-art, needs and perspectives. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 20(3), pp.2389-2406.
Xia, J., Duan, Q.Y., Luo, Y., Xie, Z.H., Liu, Z.Y. and Mo, X.G., (2017). Climate change and water resources: Case study of Eastern Monsoon Region of China. Advances in Climate Change Research, 8(2), pp.63-67.
Zhang, H., Wang, E., Zhou, D., Luo, Z. and Zhang, Z., (2016). Rising soil temperature in China and its potential ecological impact. Scientific Reports, 6(1), pp.1-8.
Zhu, M. and Fan, B., (2021). Exploring the relationship between rising temperatures and the number of climate-related natural disasters in China. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(2), p.745.
Sandalow, D. 2020. China’s Response to Climate Change: A Study in Contrasts and a Policy at a Crossroads [Online]. Available through: < https://asiasociety.org/policy-institute/chinas-response-climate-change-study-contrasts-and-policy-crossroads-0>
Smith, N. (2018). China is the Climate- change battleground [Online]. Available through:<https://www.bloombergquint.com/opinion/china-is-the-climate-change-battleground>
