Public perceptions of climate and cryosphere change in typical arid inland river areas of China: Facts, impacts and selections of adaptation measures

Abstract

As typical inland river basins in China, the Ürümqi River Basin and the Aksu River Basin were selected as study areas in this paper. In the past several decades, the climate has had a tendency to change from warm-drying to warm-wetting, with a coinstantaneous response by mountain glacier meltwater of these areas. Comparing questionnaire survey data with scientific observation, this study focused on the character of public perception on climate and cryosphere changes, the changes' possible impacts on water resources, and adaptation measure choices by the public. Results presented in this study showed that: 1) Perceptions of most respondents on climate and cryosphere changes conform to objective facts, but some of them still have suspicion relating to these environmental changes; 2) Even though increasing precipitation and glacier meltwater has caused an increased water supply, due to the increasing demand of the unit area water for agriculture (industrial and living water demand may be involved), water shortage is still a big problem in sustainable development . Because of unemployment or the inconspicuous benefits of water-saving measures, the wasting of water resources may be a serious problem in these areas; 3) Most people preferred to choose the adaptation measures implemented by government and policy-making departments. Some people showed more preference for measures avoiding unfavorable natural environmental consequences. Public perceptions on the urgency of individual participation are still inadequate. Some of the measures should be communicated broadly and warmly encouraged; 4) Public choices of adaptation measures for climate and cryosphere change are impacted by demographic factors such as age, gender, region, nationality, education and occupation. The impacts of such factors are complicated.