Scientists have warned that climate change is threatening the
most famous attraction of this northern city - its annual ice
sculpture competition.
Workers carve a giant snow
sculpture during the China Harbin International Ice and Snow
Festival in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, January 6,
2008.
According to the local meteorological bureau, rising
temperatures in the city, located on the edge of Siberia, have had
a detrimental effect on the event.
Yin Xuemian, a senior meteorologist at the Heilongjiang
Observatory, said: "In December 2002, ice lanterns in Harbin melted
right after they were sculpted.
"In 2006, a lot of money and energy were spent on redoing the
sculptures, but as the temperatures keep rising, the amount of time
available for ice and snow activities is being drastically
reduced."
As well as melting Harbin's sculptures, global warming has been
blamed for the country's water shortages, which have taken their
toll on rice cultivation, and also for the shrinking of high
altitude glaciers.
"Global warming used to be something people just talked about.
But when we look at documents, statistics and the actual changes in
climate, we see the situation is pretty alarming," Yin said.
"The average winter temperature in Harbin used to be 5 ℃
lower than it is now."
The average temperature in Harbin last year was 6.6 ℃ , the
highest since records began, he said.
China has urged developed countries to take the lead in fighting
climate change and do more to transfer clean-energy technologies to
the developing world.
Far away from the global debates on how to curb climate change,
this year's participants in the Harbin ice and snow festival have
more pressing concerns: How to keep their creations from
melting.
"We're all worried that the things will just collapse," a
participant from Malaysia said.
A Chinese Canadian participant said he was feeling the same
changes in his adopted country.
"When I first got to Canada, it was so cold. But now, it's
getting much warmer," he said.
"Maybe slowly, Vancouver will become like Hong Kong."
(China Daily January 9, 2008)
