China is acutely vulnerable to rising sea levels

 By 2050 some 32trn yuan ($4.5trn) of gdp (about 10% of China’s predicted total) could be vulnerable to coastal flooding in a “plausible worst-case” scenario 

Different areas of sea around the world warm up and expand at different rates, so sea levels rise faster in some places than others. China is unfortunate in this regard. 

China’s position in the western Pacific also exposes its southern and eastern coasts to about a dozen typhoons a year. 

Development since Deng’s reforms has made things worse. Half of China’s coastal wetlands and mangrove forests—natural shields against floods—have been destroyed. 

Cities have pumped unsustainable amounts of groundwater out of the earth, and built heavy skyscrapers. 

The resultant subsidence has caused the land to sink towards the sea even faster than the sea rises in some cities. Parts of Shenzhen are falling by 74mm a year.

The Economist Jun 5th 2023 

https://www.economist.com/china/2023/06/05/china-is-acutely-vulnerable-to-rising-sea-levels


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