Eco Bulletin: Greener 2025–Monsoon science program backed

China's latest National Ecological Meteorological Bulletin (2025) showed that nationwide hydrothermal conditions in 2025 were better than the long-term average, while overall vegetation ecological quality ranked the second best since 2000.

The bulletin was released on Friday at a press briefing held by the China Meteorological Administration in Beijing.

Xiao Chan, deputy director of the National Meteorological Center, said monitoring data showed the national vegetation ecological quality index stood at 69.1, 6.6 percent above the climatological mean, with areas rated "good" to "excellent" accounting for 66 percent of the country.

Xiao added that water conservation, soil retention, and windbreak and sand-fixation all improved to varying degrees.

Experts also said Friday that El Niño conditions have emerged in the equatorial central-eastern Pacific and are forecast to strengthen to at least moderate intensity, likely peaking in autumn and winter. Historically, such a pattern is often linked to higher temperatures in many parts of China and above-normal rainfall south of the Yangtze River during summer and autumn.

In another development, the CMA said experts from multiple regions have endorsed the Asia–Australia–Africa Monsoon international science program, urging extreme-event-focused research under a coupled Earth-system framework and enhanced AI-enabled forecasting and risk services.

The CMA said parties involved in the program would work together to strengthen climate-risk prevention and control capacity across monsoon regions worldwide, contributing meteorological expertise to global and regional sustainable development.