UN official: China will go further on climate change

The UN’s top official on climate change believes the deterioration in China’s environmental conditions will prompt Beijing to make greater concessions on a new global warming agreement, AFP reported. Yvo de Boer, who heads the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, also noted that developed nations must give more ground on cutting greenhouse gas emissions if a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol is to be finalized by next year. De Boer said global warming has contributed to a seven-fold increase in floods in China since the 1950s as well as reduced rainfall in the country’s northern regions, which has led to the expansion of the Gobi desert. If global warming is not addressed, China will face a 37% drop in wheat, rice and corn yields in the second half of the century due to higher temperatures, de Boer added. He also warned that Shanghai could be submerged by 2050 as a result of the sea level rising.