Focus on Arts and Ecology

China lost 207.5 billion yuan (US$33 billion) to ocean-related natural disasters over the past 17 years, reported China News Agency. A report from the disaster relief centre under the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) has stressed that as populations living close to the coast rise, ocean disasters will pose a growing threat to the sustainable development of coastal regions, and to the exploration of coastal resources.

The SOA is mapping China’s coastal areas with a view to understanding disaster risks. The current version of the map shows that while northernmost coasts are prone to sea ice disasters, populous cities such as Shanghai and Tianjin are sensitive to rising sea levels. The SOA plans to improve the precision of the map, with the aim of helping county-level ocean authorities mitigate the particular ocean risks their jurisdictions face.