China is poorly prepared to tackle the impact of climate change that presents a serious threat to the country, thanks to a lack of planning and public awareness, the government said on Monday.
The world's most populous country already faces challenges from weather extremes, with 2,000 people dying on average each year since the 1990s in natural disasters that are set to get worse, China's powerful economic planning agency said.
China is seeing more droughts in its northern region, with typhoons arriving earlier, wetlands drying up and sea levels rising, said the document, published in coordination with several ministries, including the Agriculture Ministry.
Government steps to mitigate climate change range from building more reservoirs, providing better protection to forests and wetlands to improving weather warning systems, but the overall picture was not optimistic, the planner said.
China was unable to protect basic infrastructure, such as power and water supplies, from extreme weather events, and flood prevention efforts need to be spruced up, it said.
A coal-dependent manufacturing base has made China the world's biggest contributor to climate change, while high and rising local air-pollution levels have sparked widespread public anger nationwide.
In recent months, officials have outlined new policies to fight the problem, on top of steep renewable energy targets in the current five-year plan.
China's pollution is expected to continue growing well into the next decade, albeit at a slower pace, as it has little choice but to rely on fossil fuels to develop its western interior.