Abstract
In spite of China’s notable progress and policy innovation in socioeconomic development, the country confronts obstacles forestalling severe drought crises facing 1.4 billion people. Environmentally, China is threatened by the dual and paradoxical challenges of flooding in the south and drought in the north as well as extreme pollution levels. Although drought is historically an environmental phenomenon in China, it is evident that climate change will accelerate its impacts. In terms of the drought scenario for China, the impacts will be severe and will increase exponentially. Between January 2009 and April 2010, China experienced three severe drought episodes that were classified at the once-in-a-100-year level. This chapter argues that the human security perspective, first enunciated by the UNDP in a landmark 1994 report, offers a useful prism through which to examine the country’s profound 2009–2010 drought crisis, the government response, and the continuing effect upon society nearly a decade later.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.—Lao Tzu
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Pink, R.M. (2021). The 2009 Drought in the People’s Republic of China: A Human Security Perspective. In: Pulhin, J.M., Inoue, M., Shaw, R. (eds) Climate Change, Disaster Risks, and Human Security. Disaster Risk Reduction. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8852-5_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8852-5_13
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