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Miranda Yeung

WWF (Hong Kong) organised a trip to Yunnan   in July to study climate change in the south-western mountainous province.
The green group took 11  local primary school teachers from seven schools on the trip to allow them to see the changes to the region's landscape.
The visitors  trekked into the mountains  to witness  evidence of climate change.
They saw the retreating snow line at Yulong Xueshan (or Jade Dragon Snow Mountain) and a melting glacier.
'The snowline of Yulong Xueshan has been retreating fast - at a rate of around 15 metres per year,' says  He Ronghua, who manages the Yulong Xueshan Nature Reserve.
But the people of Lijiang  do not need  to hear the statistics - they have been  watching the snow disappear in recent years.
'We've been  watching the snow receding,' says Lijiang native, He Zhiyue, 25, an ethnic Naxi  minority -  who account for most  of the  population.
'There used to be a large area of white snow covering the mountain, but now  you can only see  a tiny snowcap  at its peak.
'The snow and the glacier are melting fast. Some small rivers  have slowly dried out, and only the larger ones are still  flowing,' says Mr He.
Yulong is not  alone. Mingyong Glacier,  which is in Meili Xueshan  in Deqin county, northern Yunnan,   is melting at such  a fast speed that three tourist  glacier viewing platforms  have already been abandoned.
'In 1983,  Mingyong glacier  descended as far as 1,900 metres,' says Zhong Tai, vice director of Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve.
'In 1996, it  descended to 2,900 metres. A few days ago, when I went up there, it  had retreated up the mountain to 3,500 metres.
'There is no more ice at the base of the glacier, just  muddy water,' says Mr Zhong.
As well as being director of the reserve, Mr Zhong is  well known for his discovery of the extremely rare  black snub-nose monkey in the early 1990s.
Other signs of climate changes are also  evident elsewhere in Yunnan.
One in particular is the  migratory  behaviour of the black-necked crane, an extremely rare bird  with a  unique black head and red-crown patch.
'According to a local saying, the black-necked crane comes  no later than March 3 and leaves no  later than September 9,' says Zhao Jianlin, officer of the Forestry Bureau of Shangri-la. He explained this to the teachers while  showing  them around Bita Hai Lake.
'We know when  the birds have arrived  because they have a very special call. In recent years, they have been arriving early.
'This is  a sign of climate change because the birds  come here seeking warmth.'
The rare   birds spend the summers in northern Yunnan, where temperatures have been rising.
'The lowest temperature in the region has increased by two degrees Celsius from minus 27 degrees to minus 25 degrees in just 50 years,' says Mr Zhao.
For more information on climate change, log on to: wwf.org.hk



Land of melting snows