Based on the meteorological data in different regions of Qinghai Province from 1961 to 2006, tendencies and decadal changes of climatic elements, including annual temperature and precipitation, annual mean maximum and minimum temperatures, and their differences before and after the abrupt climate warming of 1987, were analyzed. In addition, the reasons for significant climate change and its regional differences were discussed. The results show that annual mean temperature increased obviously in various regions of Qinghai in the last 46 years, especially in the Qaidam Basin, the climatological warming trend was 0.44℃/10a; the variation of precipitation exhibited distinctly regional differences, with the most significant increasing rate of annual precipitation, 6.67 mm/10a, in the Qaidam Basin, and the most distinctive declining rate, -5.23 mm/10a, in eastern agricultural region. The increase of greenhouse gases, changes in cloud amount and upper-level moisture transport, and regional difference of underlying surface might be responsible for climate change and its obvious regional differences in Qinghai in 1961-2006.

By using the temperature and precipitation data from 6 meteorological stations in the middle Himalayas during 1971-2007, trends, anomalies and abrupt change of climate were analyzed. Remarkable increasing trends of annual and seasonal temperatures were detected in the region, and the rate of warming in winter half year (briefly winter hereafter) was greater than that in summer half year (briefly summer hereafter). Annual and summer temperatures showed an increasing trend on both the south and north sides of the middle Himalayas; winter temperature on the both sides decreased slightly from the 1970s to the 1980s, then gradually increased in the 1990s. For annual and seasonal temperatures, the most significant increasing trend was observed in 2001-2007, when the temperature increment ranged from 0.6 to 1.1℃relative to the 1970s. The abrupt change of annual temperature was observed in 1997 over the south side of the middle Himalayas; the warming trend was more dramatic since 1997. Since the end of the 1990s, the frequency of extreme warm years has obviously increased, especially on the south side. An increasing trend of annual and seasonal precipitation was detected on the north side of the middle Himalayans; an increasing trend was also found in winter on the south side, while a decreasing trend was observed in summer and annual precipitation. Large anomalies in precipitation mainly occurred in the 1980s and 1990s, and its frequency has reduced since the 21st century. In 1971-2007, the annual, seasonal temperature and humidity on the north side increased synchronously, thus showing a warming and wetting trend; the same trend was also found in winter on the south side, while a warming and drying trend was found for summer or the whole year.

A tree-ring width chronology has been built from Larix chinensis at the divide sampling site in the mid-Qinling Mountains from 1814 to 2003. The calculation results show that standardization (STD) chronology was significantly correlated with the mean air temperature from January to July. The mean January-July temperature at the sampling site was reconstructed by using the multiple regression method, and the explained variance of the function was 41% (F=15.062, p<0.0001). Two cold periods in the past 190 years were found in 1814-1850, and 1876-1889, and two warm periods from 1851-1875, and 1890-1933, respectively. The reconstructed temperature was relatively stable from the early 1930s to 1990, but increased quickly after 1990.

Based on the daily observational data of fog, minimum temperature, relative humidity and mean wind speed at 591 national meteorological observation stations of China during the period of 1971-2005, the correlation between regional annual fog days and the three climate factors were analyzed for each of the nine fog regions of China. Furthermore, the annual fog days for each region in the first 50 years of the 21st century were projected by using the model output data under the SRES-A2, -A1B, and -B1 emission scenarios provided by IPCC AR4. Results show that the projection results of regression equations of annual fog days for 2001-2005 are so good that these equations can be used for long-term projection. The projected results indicate that fog days in the first half of the 21st century will overally and obviously decrease by 16.2%, 13.4% and 12.9% under the SERS-A1B, -A2, and -B1 emission scenarios, respectively. As far as the spatial distribution is concerned, fog days under the three scenarios will all decline in most areas of China except a few individual areas; the most obvious decline will occur in Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, South China, North China and Sichuan Basin etc. under the SRES-A1B scenario, while the most obvious increase will occur in the Tianshan Mts. and the Longdong-Shanxi region in Northwest China under the SRES-B1 scenario.

Based on the surface meteorological observation data from 9 stations in Tacheng region from 1961 to 2005, using the linear trend analysis, Mann-Kendall test, correlation analysis, and composite analysis, the temporal and spatial distributions and change characteristics of sand-dust weather were analyzed; and physical mechanisms for changes in sandstorms and blowing-sand weather were discussed. The results show as follows: 1) The high frequency area of sand-dust weather lies in the Wusu-Shawan area, the second high frequency area lies near Emin station. Distribution of day numbers of sand-dust (south-more-north-less) showed an opposite spatial pattern to both high wind days and precipitation(north-more-south-less). 2) The average annual sandstorm days over Tacheng region was 3.8 days, mainly in the period from April to September. 3) Sandstorm and blowing-sand days were decreasing in the period 1961-2005; sandstorm and high wind days obviously decreased at a rate of 1.0 d/10a and 10.5 d/10a, respectively. 4) An abrupt reduction in regional sandstorms, blowing-sand, and floating dust occurred in 1993, 1992, and 1973, respectively. 5) In the period 1961-2005, the northern hemispheric polar vortex showed a weakening trend in strength, and a shrinking trend in area, which was responsible for reduced intensity and frequency of the cold air activities in Xinjiang. Weakened cold air activities directly resulted in the reduction in annual mean strong winds, which was the primary reason for reduction in the day number of sandstorms.

Based on latest national CO2 emissions data released from the International Energy Agency (IEA), using the statistical method, the CO2 emission trends for different countries and regions were analyzed. The results show that the CO2 emission of the whole world based on purchasing power parity (PPP) decreased from 1990 to 2005, with larger reduction amplitude; and after 2000, the emission amount kept basically constant. The CO2 emission from OECD countries also decreased to different extent. The CO2 emission from non-OECD countries overally had a negative growth rate, but differences in CO2 emissions were still very large from country to country. The per capita CO2 emissions from OECD countries were generally higher than the world average level, while those from most of non-OECD countries were lower than the world average level.

Methane (CH4) is the second most significant greenhouse gas. The atmospheric CH4 concentration was measured weekly by flask sampling and the gas chromatography method at four national baseline observatories, including Waliguan (WLG), Shangdianzi (SDZ), Lin'an (LAN), and Longfengshan (LFS) from September 2006 to August 2008. The analysis results of the CH4 concentration data of the two years show that the annual CH4 concentrations increased by 9.1×10-9, 3.8×10-9, 21.8×10-9 and 8.2 ×10-9 on the average, at WLG, SDZ, LAN, and LFS observatories, respectively. The growth trend for CH4 concentration at WLG observatory was very similar to that of the global average, and representative of the atmospheric baseline level of the Eurasian continent. At SDZ observatory, the value of CH4 concentration was lower and the seasonal amplitude was also much smaller. However, both at LFS and LAN observatories, the CH4 concentrations obviously varied seasonally, with the maximum concentration in winter and the minimum concentration in summer.

Methane emission during rice-growing season in China's paddies was estimated over the period 1955-2005 by linking the CH4MOD, a model for simulating rice paddy CH4 emission, to a GIS database. Model estimates indicate that the CH4 emission from China's rice paddies increased generally over the fifty years. The quantities of annual CH4 emission were estimated to be (3.18±0.53), (4.71±0.27), (5.22±0.24) and (5.79±0.34) Tg in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, respectively; and the mean amount of annual CH4 emission from 2000 to 2005 was estimated to be (6.25±0.36)Tg. A rapid increase in CH4 emission occurred in the period 1960-1975, with a mean growth rate of 0.167 Tg/a, while the growth rate decreased to 0.054 Tg/a from 1976 to 2005. Higher CH4 emission occurred in Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, accounting for approximately 73.2% of the national total CH4 emission from rice fields. Methane emission in Northeast China was estimated to have increased significantly since the early 1980s, which is mainly attributed to an expansion of rice cultivation.

Indian National Action Plan on Climate Change, issued in June 2008, outlined India's principles, mitigation and adaptation measures on addressing climate change. It highlighted India's standpoint about the responsibility to address climate change, i.e. the developed countries should be responsible for their accumulated greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, and everyone on the earth could share the global atmospheric resource freely according to the principle of equity. Meanwhile, India is facing up more and more pressure from the international society due to its steady increasing of GHG emission, and the action plan also presented mitigation measures, such as improving energy efficiency and developing renewable energy. Comparing with the China's National Climate Change Program (CNCCP), the viewpoints and measures of Indian government could be helpful for China to make the strategy for addressing climate change and to enhance international cooperation capacity.

Climate change education in universities has been one of key issues for enhancing nation's capacity of adapting and mitigating climate change. A questionnaire survey was conducted at Nanjing Agricultural University among total 140 student participants who were randomly sampled from different specialties and grades. Digital scores were used for the answers and assessed for the positiveness towards the questions for basic knowledge of climate change, relation between agriculture and climate change, and altitude in response to climate change. The results show a generally fair awareness of climate change although the positiveness on the questions varied with the question issues, and with the grades and specialties of the student participants. However, the participants obtained relatively lower scores for the warming causes and generation of greenhouse gases. The students in high grades and in specialty of agricultural sciences had significantly stronger awareness of climate change and agriculture than those in lower grades (1-3 grades generally) and in cultural and economical sciences, respectively. Much high variability was observed in student's altitude towards climate change mitigation and adaptation, while not much difference among participants of different grades. Education of climate change affairs is urgent to meet the demand of human resources for struggling with future climate change. The authors suggest that a public selective curriculum on climate change and relevant mitigation options should be offered, and climate change management curriculum can be opened in the university in conditions.