The Great 2008 Chinese Ice Storm: Its Socioeconomic–Ecological Impact and Sustainability Lessons Learned

Abstract Extreme events often expose vulnerabilities of socioeconomic infrastructures and point to directions of much-needed policy change. Integrated impact assessment of such events can lead to finding of sustainability principles. Southern and central China has for decades been undergoing a breakneck pace of socioeconomic development. In early 2008, a massive ice storm struck this region, immobilizing millions of people. The storm was a consequence of sustained convergence between tropical maritime and continental polar air masses, caused by an anomalously stable atmospheric general circulation pattern in both low and high latitudes. Successive waves of freezing rain occurred during a month period, coating southern and central China with a layer of ice 50–160 mm in thickness. We conducted an integrated impact assessment of this event to determine whether and how the context of socioeconomic and human-disturbed natural systems may affect the transition of natural events into human disasters. We found th...

[1]  Philip Buckle,et al.  Extreme events and disasters: a window of opportunity for change? Analysis of organizational, institutional and political changes, formal and informal responses after mega-disasters , 2010 .

[2]  J. Diamond.  Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed , 2005 .

[3]  S. Changnon.  Characteristics of Ice Storms in the United States , 2003 .

[4]  Roger A. Pielke,et al.  Extreme Events: A Research and Policy Framework for Disasters in Context , 2001 .

[5]  Zhang Jin.  Causes of the unprecedented freezing disaster in January 2008 and its possible association with the global warming. , 2008 .

[6]  G. Haug,et al.  Influence of the intertropical convergence zone on the East Asian monsoon , 2007, Nature.

[7]  Don C. Bragg,et al.  Impacts and management implications of ice storms on forests in the southern United States , 2003 .

[8]  Philippe Ciais,et al.  The carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems in China , 2009, Nature.

[9]  Y. Zong,et al.  The 1998 Flood on the Yangtze, China , 2000 .

[10]  Tim Li,et al.  The Extreme Cold Anomaly over Southeast Asia in February 2008: Roles of ISO and ENSO* , 2009 .

[11]  Rebecca E. Morss,et al.  Flood Risk, Uncertainty, and Scientific Information for Decision Making: Lessons from an Interdisciplinary Project , 2005 .

[12]  G. Shao,et al.  China's Forest Policy for the 21st Century , 2000, Science.

[13]  Rong-hui Huang,et al.  Interannual Variations of East Asian Trough Axis at 500 hPa and its Association with the East Asian Winter Monsoon Pathway , 2009 .

[14]  Harold E. Brooks,et al.  Societal and Economic Research and Applications For Weather Forecasts: Priorities for the North American THORPEX Program , 2008 .

[15]  Xu Xiangde.  A preliminary analysis of features and causes of the snow storm event over the Southern China in January 2008 , 2008 .

[16]  Paul J. Roebber,et al.  The 1998 ice storm : Analysis of a planetary-scale event , 2001 .

[17]  Zhiyun Ouyang,et al.  Protecting China's Biodiversity , 2003, Science.

[18]  J. Diamond,et al.  China's environment in a globalizing world , 2005, Nature.

[19]  D. Stephenson,et al.  Observed Trends and Teleconnections of the Siberian High: A Recently Declining Center of Action , 2005 .

[20]  Arun Kumar,et al.  An Analysis of the Large-Scale Climate Anomalies Associated with the Snowstorms Affecting China in January 2008 , 2009 .

[21]  L. Irland.  Ice storms and forest impacts. , 2000, The Science of the total environment.

[22]  X. Gong,et al.  Rural-urban Migrants: A Driving Force for Growth , 2008 .

[23]  Gao Hui.  China's snow disaster in 2008, who is the principal player? , 2009 .

[24]  Jianguo Liu,et al.  Ecological and socioeconomic effects of China's policies for ecosystem services , 2008, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[25]  Guoxiong Wu,et al.  Roles of Anomalous Tibetan Plateau Warming on the Severe 2008 Winter Storm in Central-Southern China , 2010 .

[26]  A. Lugo,et al.  Ecosystem Management in the Context of Large, Infrequent Disturbances , 1998, Ecosystems.

[27]  Richard Stone,et al.  Ecologists Report Huge Storm Losses in China's Forests , 2008, Science.

[28]  Liu Ying.  The large scale circulation of the snow disaster in south China in the beginning of 2008. , 2008 .