Press Releases

University hosts UK/China workshop on climate change

Release Date : 29 July 2008

This week (28th-30th July) the University is hosting a joint UK/China workshop aimed at understanding climate change in China and its impacts on agriculture, water resources and China's cities.

Professor Tony Downes, the University's Deputy Vice-Chancellor, opened the workshop by welcoming our Chinese guests and said: "Workshops such as these strengthen Reading's links across the world and are of tremendous importance to the University. We have world-leading expertise in climate here at Reading and strong links with China. Furthering these links is both timely and vital if we are to address the critical issue of climate change. Unless we work together, we will not work at all".

Professor Guoxiong Wu, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences said: "It is our great pleasure to come to the University of Reading which is so well respected in the climate field across the world. Through workshops like these we can build a much stronger collaboration between UK and China in atmospheric science and its applications."

Professor Julia Slingo, Climate Director of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, said: "Key scientific questions about the climate of China remain unanswered. Over the last 50 years northern China has become drier and southern China wetter. But we don't know if these trends are part of a natural cycle or are due to human-induced climate change. Understanding these observed trends is crucial for predicting the climate of China over the coming decades."

The workshop is considering a number of areas critical to sustainable development in China:

• natural variations in climate and how they interact with human-induced climate change

• the links between climate, pollution and air quality

• the impacts of climate change on water and food in China

• greenhouse gas emission policy in China

The workshop is funded by Research Councils UK and is being hosted by the Department of Meteorology and the Walker Institute for Climate System Research. Attendees include senior scientists and policy officials from the UK and China.

Ends

For more information please contact: Kathy Maskell, Walker Institute Communications Manager 0118 378 7380 or the University Press Office on 0118 378 7388.

Notes for Editors:

The Walker Institute for Climate System Research is a leading UK climate research centre based at the University of Reading. Its research is focused on understanding climate, in order to deliver better knowledge of future climate and its impacts for the benefit of society. See www.walker-institute.ac.uk for more information.