Editing North China Plain (section)

== Climate change ==
{{See also|Effects of climate change}}
[[File:Kang_2018_NCP_irrigation_RCPs.png|thumb|This set of maps shows how the summer [[heat stress]] over the North China Plain would change between now at the end of the century under [[Representative Concentration Pathway|RCP4.5 and RCP8.5]], the scenarios of "moderate" and intense climate change. It also shows how irrigation would exacerbate heat stress compared to a [[counterfactual]] where it is absent.<ref name="Kang2018" />]]
As [[climate change]] increases the Earth's average temperature, and has a disproportionate effect on extreme temperatures, it will also increase [[heat stress]] felt in areas that are already hot and/or with high [[humidity]]. The North China Plain is expected to be highly affected, as the region's extensive [[irrigation]] networks result in unusually moist air. In scenarios without aggressive [[climate change mitigation|action to stop climate change]], the worst [[heatwave]]s are projected to become severe enough to cause mass mortality in [[agricultural labourer]]s working outdoors. Under the most extreme climate change scenario, the warming reached by 2100 would be sufficient to cause such heatwaves across the North China Plain approximately once per decade.<ref name="Kang2018">{{Cite journal |last1=Kang |first1=Suchul |last2=Eltahir |first2=Elfatih A. B. |date=31 July 2018 |title=North China Plain threatened by deadly heatwaves due to climate change and irrigation |journal=Nature Communications |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=2894 |doi=10.1038/s41467-018-05252-y |doi-access=free|pmid=30065269 |pmc=6068174 }}</ref>