No subject

Climate Report Warns of Faster and Wider Damage
By REUTERS
Filed at 5:32 a.m. ET

BRUSSELS, April 6 (Reuters) - Top climate experts issued their
bleakest forecasts yet about global warming on Friday, ranging from
hunger in Africa to a thaw of Himalayan glaciers in a study that may
add pressure on governments to act.

More than 100 nations in the U.N. climate panel agreed a final text
after all-night disputes during which some scientists accused
governments of watering down some of their findings in a draft 21-page
summary.

"We have an approved report," Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told reporters on
Friday morning after negotiations about the regional impact of climate
change that began on Monday.

Pachauri -- who said he was still wearing the same suit as on Thursday
due to the marathon overnight talks -- added he hoped the world would
pay attention.

The report says the poor will be hardest hit by changes including
desertification, drought, and rising sea levels.

The IPCC groups 2,500 scientists and is the top world authority on
climate change. Its findings are approved unanimously by governments
and will guide policy in coming years on issues such as extending the
U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, the main U.N. plan for capping greenhouse gas
emissions, beyond 2012.

"Conflict is a hard word, tension is a better word," Gary Yohe, one of
scientists who was a lead author of the report, told Reuters of the
mood at the talks.

He said China, Russia and Saudi Arabia had raised most objections
during the night. Other participants also said the United States had
toned down some passages.

CLIMATE CHANGING NOW

Some scientists objected, for instance, after China tried to eliminate
a note saying that there was "very high confidence" that climate
change was already affecting "many natural systems, on all continents
and in some oceans".

China, the second largest source of greenhouse gases after the United
States and ahead of Russia, wanted no mention of the level of confidence.

Still, delegates sharpened other sections, including adding a warning
that some African nations might have to spend 5 to 10 percent of gross
domestic product on adapting to climate change.

Overall, the report is the strongest U.N. assessment yet of the threat
of climate change, predicting water shortages that could affect
billions of people and a rise in ocean levels that could go on for
centuries.

It builds on a previous IPCC report in February saying that human
greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from burning fossil fuels, are very
likely to be the main cause of recent warming.

That report also forecast that temperatures could rise by 1.8 to 4.0
Celsius (3.2 to 7.2 F) this century.

Friday's study also says climate change could cause hunger for
millions with a sharp fall in crop yields in Africa. It could rapidly
thaw of Himalayan glaciers that feed rivers from India to China and
bring heatwaves for Europe and North America.

U.S. delegates rejected suggested wording that parts of North America
may suffer "severe economic damage" from warming.

But it toughened some sections by saying "significant loss of
biodiversity" was possible in parts of Australia such as the Great
Barrier Reef by 2020.

The IPCC report says climate change is no longer a vague, distant threat.

"The whole of climate change is something actually here and now rather
than something for the future," said Neil Adger, a British lead author
of the report.



-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner 
at http://lists.altnews.com.au/MailScanner.html ,
and is believed to be clean.