Yunnan University researcher releases key Central Asia paper

A research team led by Chen Feng from the Institute of International Rivers and Eco-security at Yunnan University recently published a research paper – Ecological and societal effects of Central Asian streamflow variation over the past eight centuries – in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, a leading nature research journal.

Yunnan University, or YNU – based in Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province – is the first author unit. Researcher Chen Feng is the first author and academician Chen Fahu, from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is the co-corresponding author.

The paper said that mountainous areas in Central Asia are important corridors of the ancient Silk Road and play a vital role in supporting ethnic migration and cultural exchanges in Eurasia.

Research is understood to show that as global warming intensifies, larger glaciers in the mountains of Central Asia are retreating. This means that populations in the lower reaches of these international rivers may face reduced freshwater resources in the coming decades.

The paper also said that there is a lack of understanding that water resources have contributed to the socio-economic development of Central Asia over the past millennium.

As alternative data, tree rings have the characteristics of wide spatial distribution, accurate dating, obvious physiological significance, strong continuity and high resolution. The paper said they can effectively make up for the lack of temporal and spatial scales of environmental information, such as climate and hydrology.

The research results are based on physical geography, combined with the related disciplines of human geography and historical geography. They are said to provide evidence for a scientific understanding of the impact of natural environment changes on the social and historical progress of Eurasia in the past thousand years.