China must cut emissions to slow global warming: official

BEIJING -- China must cut greenhouse gas emissions to slow global warming, even as the world's fourth largest economy tries to maintain fast economic growth, a senior climate official said.

Luo Yong, vice director of the National Climate Center, told a press conference on Thursday that "if we took no measures against global warming, China's planting industry would face a 5-10 percent drop in output by 2030, with production of wheat, rice and corn on the decline."

Luo's hypothesis suggests that the effects of global warming could make it increasingly difficult for the world's most populous nation to feed itself.

The press conference was held on the heels of a report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which warned that the impact of global warming could be "abrupt or irreversible" and no country would be spared -- the starkest warning yet by the Nobel-winning group.

"Further global warming will bring about more extreme incidents, like floods and droughts, destabilizing China's agricultural production," said Luo. "Higher temperature will send up costs in irrigation, pesticides and fertilizers."

"The earlier we take action, the smaller our losses will be," Luo added.

Luo's remarks were echoed by Zheng Guoguang, director of the China Meteorological Administration, who said the Chinese government had always attache

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