By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer
(AP) -- Working until dawn, negotiators on Friday
concluded a policy guide for governments on global warming that
declares climate change is here and is getting worse, one of its
authors said.
Provisional agreement on the
text - which is about 20 pages and summarizes thousands of pages of
data and projections - required compromises among the more than 140
delegations, but resulted in a "good and balanced document," said Bert
Metz, a Dutch scientist who helped draft the report.
Full story: http://www.physorg.com/news114431482.html
Key Findings of UN Scientific Report
(AP) -- The following are some key findings in a report issued Saturday
by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:
- Global warming is "unequivocal." Temperatures have risen 1.3
degrees Fahrenheit in the last 100 years. Eleven of the last 12 years
are among the warmest since 1850. Sea levels have gone up by an average
seven-tenths of an inch per year since 1961.
- About 20 percent to 30 percent of all plant and animal species
face the risk of extinction if temperatures increase by 2.7 degrees
Fahrenheit. If the thermometer rises by 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit, between
40 to 70 percent of species could disappear.
- Human activity is largely responsible for warming. Global emissions of greenhouse gases
grew 70 percent from 1970 to 2004. The concentration of carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere is far higher than the natural range over the last
650,000 years.
- Climate change will affect poor countries most, but will be felt
everywhere. By 2020, 75 million to 250 million people in Africa will
suffer water shortages, residents of Asia's large cities will be at
great risk of river and coastal flooding, Europeans can expect
extensive species loss, and North Americans will experience longer and
hotter heat waves and greater competition for water.
- Extreme weather conditions
will be more common. Tropical storms will be more frequent and intense.
Heat waves and heavy rains will affect some areas, raising the risk of
wildfires and the spread of diseases. Elsewhere, drought will degrade
cropland and spoil the quality of water sources. Rising sea levels will
increase flooding and salination of fresh water and threaten coastal
cities.
- Even if greenhouse gases are stabilized, the Earth will keep
warming and sea levels rising. More pollution could bring "abrupt and
irreversible" changes, such as the loss of ice sheets in the poles, and
a corresponding rise in sea levels by several yards.
-A wide array of tools exist, or will soon be available, to adapt
to climate change and reduce its potential effects. One is to put a
price on carbon emissions.
- By 2050, stabilizing emissions would slow the average annual
global economic growth by less than 0.12 percent. The longer action is
delayed, the more it will cost.
Source:
http://www.physorg.com/news114532737.html
