Abstract
Desertification and dust storms are the result of both human activity and natural causes. Changes in wind speed, precipitation, temperature, and humidity due to climate change can cause desertification and dust storms, and increase the intensity of such phenomena. Human activity such as land development and overgrazing destroy vegetation cover, and cause the occurrence of aggravation of desertification and dust storms as a result; upstream irrigation and urbanization can lead to the seasonal drying up of downstream rivers, lakes and other water bodies and thus become a new or enhanced source of sand. So far, natural sandstorm activity is still the main source of sand and dust input into the atmosphere. The main areas of modern sandstorm activity may become drier in the future due to climate change. As for the subject of land use by humans, it is necessary for us to pay close attention to its long-term effects on the climate and also on its interaction with various climate elements and the environmental effects caused by such interactions. The deployment of the appropriate technical measures can play a role in alleviating desertification and dust storms.
Chengyi Zhang is a Researcher at the National Climate Center (NCC). His main research interests are in greenhouse gas inventory methodologies, greenhouse gas exchange and flux, and the impact of climate change on ecosystems. Rong Gao is a Senior Engineer at the NCC whose main research interest is in the area of climate-related disaster risk. Jun Wu is Associate Researcher at the Ministry of Environmental Protection Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences whose main research interests are in the area of environmental protection and the implementation of, and negotiations on, the Convention on Biological Diversity. Zhongxia Yang is Senior Engineer at the Arxan Meteorological Bureau in Inner Mongolia whose main research interests are in the areas of meteorological observation and meteorological disasters.
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Zhang, C., Gao, R., Wu, J., Yang, Z. (2020). Combating Climate Change, Desertification and Sandstorms: A Collaborative Approach. In: Wang, W., Liu, Y. (eds) Annual Report on China’s Response to Climate Change (2017). Research Series on the Chinese Dream and China’s Development Path. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9660-1_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9660-1_13
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