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CLIMATE
CHANGE & ENVIRONMENT
Climate change is occurring faster
than predicted: WWF report
London:
A new WWF report warns that climate change is
occurring much faster than predicted by the scientific
fraternity, and will wreak havoc unless action is
taken on a global scale. The report suggests that
'extreme weather events' like the hot summer of 2003,
when heart stress and poor air quality claimed about
35,000 extra lives across southern Europe, will happen
more frequently. It further states that violent cyclones
will hit Britain and the North Sea area more often,
and that the predicted rise in sea level will double
to more than a metre, putting vast coastal areas at
risk from flooding. The report also predicts crops
failures and the collapse of eco systems on both land
and sea. Through this report, the organisation has
urged the European Union to set en example for the
rest of the world by agreeing a package of challenging
targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and
for keeping any increase in global temperatures below
2C.
According
to WWF, a 2007 report that was based on a study of
global warming by 4,000 scientists from more than
150 countries is now out of date. The agency insists
that it has updated all the scientific data, which
suggest that global warming is accelerating far beyond
the earlier forecasts. It even points out that the
first 'tipping point' may have already been reached
in the Arctic, where sea ice is disappearing up to
30 years ahead of the previous predictions, and may
be gone completely within five years, something that
hasn't occurred for a million years. "Climate change
is a major challenge to the future of mankind and
the environment, and this sobering overview highlights
just how critical it is that EU environment ministers,
who are meeting today to discuss EU legislation to
tackle climate change, commit to a strong climate
and energy package, in order to ensure a low carbon
future," the Telegraph quoted WWF-UK's Head of Climate
Change, Dr. Keith Allott, as saying. "If the European
Union wants to be seen as leader at UN talks in Copenhagen
next year, and to help secure a strong global deal
to tackle climate change after 2012, then it must
stop shirking its responsibilities and commit to real
emissions cuts within Europe," Dr. Allott added. Professor
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, the newly elected Vice Chair
of the the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), endorsed the WWF report. "It is clear that
climate change is already having a greater impact
than most scientists had anticipated, so it's vital
that international mitigation and adaptation responses
become swifter and more ambitious," van Ypersele said..
-Oct 20, 2008
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