China's first set of rules regulating man-made weather procedures will go into effect on May 1.
The rules will empower local governments above the county level to co-ordinate such operations with meteorological agencies, officials said Sunday.
Scientists say they need to intervene in the weather to minimize the damage caused by natural disasters and climate change.
Outlays for such intervention must be included in the annual budgets of local governments.
The rules will require all departments to co-operate during weather modifications to ensure safe and smooth operation.
The rules will also spell out the duties of all the parties involved, such as air force, aviation, police and hydrological departments.
Cao Kangtai, deputy director of the State Council's Legislative Affairs Office, said weather modification operations - including cloud seeding for rain, fog-dispelling and prevention of hailstorms and frost - are playing an ever-increasing role in alleviating persistent droughts and other weather calamities.
But the effectiveness of such operations is not always satisfactory, with accidents happening because of deficient management and the lack of an effective co-ordinated mechanism capable of regulating all parties concerned, Cao said.
Cao said he hopes the new rules can bring all the parties under a standardized weather modification mechanism in which every step will be regulated.
China's economy, particularly agriculture, has long been plagued by frequent droughts, hailstorms and frost due to intensified abnormal climate changes since the early 1990s, said Qin Dahe, a top official of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA).
The country's rapid economic growth and the advances in science and technology have enabled weather modification to be adopted throughout China, Qin said.
By the end of last year, routine weather intervention involving more than 29,000 professionals had been carried out in 1,625 counties.
During the 1996-2000 period, great strides were made in such operations with more than 2,123 airplanes, 6,790 anti-aircraft guns and 590 rocket-launchers being put into use.
(China Daily April 29, 2002)
