China-UK Workshop on Climate Change and Extreme Events kicked off at the Chinese Meteorological Administration in Beijing on July 18. The 3-day workshop is organized jointly by the National Natural Science Research Foundation of China (NNSFC) and the UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). 30 Chinese and 14 British experts will look at the likely future impacts of climate change on regional patterns of rainfall, sea level and storm surges under different carbon emissions scenarios. How farmers might adapt to climate change is also on the agenda.

The workshop's objectives are to present Chinese and UK’s approaches to issues such as building atmospheric and regional climate models; quantifying the impacts of climate change on the environment and on humans, and discussing likely adaptation of species and habitats and options for mitigation of the worst climate-change effects.

The meeting kicked off with the NNSFC and the NERC signing their first ever agreement to cooperate in environmental research. The outcomes of this workshop will be discussed at a follow-up conference in the UK in November.

According to the experts in the meeting, climate change has great impact on biodiversity, forestry and agriculture, and even economy. Climate change is high on the agenda during the UK's presidencies of the G8 group and the EU in the second half of this year. Meanwhile, China has also implemented a series of measures against climate change, as well as seeking international cooperation actively.

This workshop is part of the UK-China Partners in Science series of activities in China in 2005, a joint initiative backed by both the Chinese and the UK governments to increase scientific collaboration between the two countries.

(Chinanews.cn July 19, 2005)