Prof. Qin Dahe, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, spoke about climate change at the China Science and Humanities Forum at the UCAS Yanqihu campus on March 14. Titled “Environmental Protection and Global Climate” it was the 150th lecture of the forum and was hosted by Dr. Wu Jianmin, executive vice chairman of the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy.
Prof. Qin started his lecture with an introduction to the Volvo Environment Prize, the highest award in the international environmental field, describing his experience of receiving the prize.
He noted that climate change not only involves becoming warmer, drier and wetter, but is a very complex problem resulting from the interaction of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, lithosphere and cryosphere. Thus climate change comprises not only meteorology, but also geography and ecology.
He then cited figures from a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations which showed the severe climate change since industrialization detailing its impact on human health.
Prof. Qin pointed to carbon emissions from petroleum and coal as the primary causes of global climate problems. Concerning smog, he said it results from large-scale emission of harmful pollutants under meteorological conditions where pollutants are not easy to diffuse as well as from the effect of motor vehicles and coal-burning. It is a protracted undertaking to mitigate smog, which needs strengthened fundamental research, technological methods and social management.
During the Q&A session, Prof. Qin exchanged ideas with UCAS graduate students concerning climate change, smog abatement and proposals concerning energy offered during this year’s two sessions of the NPC and CPPCC.
