February 2001 World Headlines

Wednesday, February 21, 2001 - Web posted at 7:08:31 AM GMT

World disasters seen as global warming outcome

ROBERT EVANS - Massive flooding, disease and drought could hit rich and poor countries around the world over coming decades if global warming is not halted, an authoritative United Nations scientific team warned on Monday.

The scientists said they foresaw glaciers and polar icecaps melting, countless species of animals, birds and plant life dying out, farmland turning to desert, fish-supporting coral reefs destroyed, and small island states sunk beneath the sea.

The disaster scenario, with its major impact on the global economy, is set out in a 1 000-page report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which links nearly 3 000 experts in dozens of countries and has been studying the warming problem since 1990."

"Projected climate changes during the 21st century have the potential to lead to future large-scale and possibly irreversible changes in Earth systems, resulting in impacts on continental and global scales," the report said."

"Climate change in polar regions is expected to be among the greatest of any region on the Earth," declared a Summary for Policymakers agreed at a meeting of IPCC scientists and officials of over 100 governments in last week.

Hinting at sharper global social conflict to come, it said poorer countries, and the poorest people in rich countries, would suffer the most - increasing the North-South divide and the poverty gap in the United States and Europe.

The effects of a surge in hurricanes, floods, higher temperatures and water shortages "are expected to fall disproportionately on the poor because they are less able to adapt", Harvard professor James McCarthy told a news conference.

McCarthy, one of the authors of the report, said farming in tropical and sub-tropical regions would be worst hit "and tens of millions of people will be at risk from sea level rise".

The report is the second of four to be issued this year as governments gird up for a fresh effort to shape a pact on how to tackle the warming problem and avert disaster.

Last month the first report said the earth's atmosphere was warming faster than the IPCC initially thought and largely because of human activity - use of carbon-based fossil fuels, industrial pollution and destruction of forests and wetlands.

Next month in Accra, Ghana, the body is to issue a third report looking at what can be done to slow the process and help people, animals and plant life to adapt to irreversible change.

In September, a final report will put the conclusions into one major document which the scientists and environmentalists - as well as insurance companies and new, clean energy industries - hope will prod political leaders to action.

Monday's report warned that the United States - where scepticism about warming is strong in the new administration - would not escape a rise in flooding and storms that have caused billions of dollars in damage in recent years. - Nampa-Reuters