Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has held productive discussions with the President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, during a visit to Colombo. The visit marked the 70th anniversary of bilateral relations and highlighted the strong friendship between the two countries. … read more
The Australia-Israel relationship is in great shape. This week, Prime Minister Netanyahu and I agreed initiatives that will advance our two countries shared interests in national security, counter-terrorism, cyber security, innovation, and trade and investment. We witnessed the signing of … read more
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The ceremony to release the Survey Report on Chinese People’s Understanding of Climate Change and Climate Change Communication is held at China Hall of Science and Technology, November 1st, 2017. [Photo by Zhang Liying / China.org.cn] |
A survey released on Nov.1 shows 94 percent of respondents support China’s implementation of the Paris Agreement, while 96.8 percent agree the country should participate in international cooperation to tackle climate change.
Xie Zhenhua, China’s special representative for climate change, described the findings in Chinese People’s Understanding of Climate Change and Climate Change Communication as highly encouraging approval of the country’s efforts to deal with the threat.
The survey was conducted by the Center for China Climate Change Communication, the first think tank dedicated to climate change communications research and practice in developing countries.
Covering 4,025 ordinary people from China’s 332 prefecture-level administrative units and four centrally-controlled municipalities, it provided a comprehensive picture of public understanding of climate change in terms of causes, influence, methods of response, government policies and communication effect, etc.
More than 90 percent of the respondents support the central government’s measures in mitigation and adaption, indicating China’s commitment to addressing climate change is responding to public wishes.
While America is looking at quick ways of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, China is intensifying efforts to contribute more to the global campaign.
Taking a driving seat in the cooperative international response to climate change, China has become an important participant, contributor and torchbearer in the global endeavor for ecological civilization, according to the report delivered by President Xi Jinping at the 19th CPC National Congress.
Seeing climate change as one of the unconventional security threats, China will continue to cooperate with other countries in tackling the problem to protect the planet for the sake of human survival.
Confronted with America’s slack attitude towards climate change, the world will expect much from China to meet the global challenge at the upcoming 2017 UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn from Nov. 6th to 17th.
With staunch public support, the Chinese government will be more confident in actively participating in global climate change governance, said Professor Zhang Haibin from the School of International Studies of Peking University, speaking at the ceremony to release the survey report.
read moreWhilst official forecasters and the clever moaners were telling us of a housing collapse in the UK after the Brexit vote, we saw instead continued increases in new housebuilding, strong demand, and a brick shortage.
UK brick capacity was slashed from 2.6bn bricks a year in 2007 to 2bn as a result of the crash. The Great recession led to many brick kiln and plant closures and reminds us of how much damage this did. In recent years as a result the UK has turned to importing more bricks from the continent whilst we await new plant investment to replace the lost output and meet our domestic demand.
Bricks are heavy items to transport, so the imported product has to carry the extra costs of long distance journeys. It is taking time to rebuild UK capacity, though Ibstock are currently putting in a 100m brick plant which should come on stream soon.
Building materials generally is an area where the UK can and should do more to substitute home production for imports given the transport cost advantage of home output. It is also the case that builders often prefer to buy locally as it reduces threats to their supplies which distant factories and busy roads and ferries can create.
Brexit will offer us many opportunities to substitute home production for EU exports, especially in food if they opt for the WTO model with tariffs.
read moreChina’s Beijing and Shanghai has been named by the Nature Index as China’s most scientifically productive cities, which also enjoy the highest city-to-city collaboration in the country. In an article posted on its website on Wednesday, Nature Index sa… read more