Agence France-Presse
BRUSSELS: Climate change is set to inflict damage in every continent, hitting poor countries hardest and threatening nearly a third of the world s species with extinction, UN experts warned Friday.
Global warming will affect much of life on Earth this century, the UN s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in a landmark report whose drafting was marked by an angry row.
Damage to Earth s weather systems from greenhouse gases will change rainfall patterns, punch up the power of storms and boost the risk of drought, flooding and stress on water supplies, the IPCC said.
The consequences will be adverse or in some scenarios even catastrophic, depending chiefly on how much carbon gas is spewed into the atmosphere from burning oil, gas and coal.
Poor people are the most vulnerable and will be the worst hit by the impacts of climate change. This becomes a global responsibility, the IPCC s chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, declared.
Up to 30 percent of animal and plant species will be vulnerable to extinction if global temperatures rise by 1.5-2.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 to 4.5 Fahrenheit), the IPCC said.
It is very likely that all regions will experience either declines in benefits or increases in costs for increases in temperature greater than 2 to 3 degrees (C), or 3.6-5.4 F, over 1990 levels, according to a summary for policymakers agreed by the IPCC.
The summary s draft was fiercely disputed during a week of negotiations, ending with a marathon 24-hour session. Publication was delayed on the final day after several countries objected to tough wording, sparking charges of political interference from one delegate.
At US insistence, summary drafters dumped a paragraph that said North America was expected to experience severe local economic damage and substantial ecosystem, social and cultural disruption, delegates said.
Saudi Arabia and China also insisted on other changes to water down the draft. Some of the objections were not scientifically based, said Joseph Alcamo of the Centre for Environmental Systems Research at Germany s University of Kassel, who was lead author of the chapter on Europe.
You could say that the debate here is a foretaste of the difficulty that lies ahead in terms of policy.
The summary accompanies a massive 1,400-page report which said there was now clear evidence that climate change was already happening, through loss of Arctic ice, mountain glaciers, thawing permafrost and other recently-observed phenomena.
Martin Parry, co-chair of the IPCC s working group, said the doubt has been removed that climate change was already on the march.
On all continents there is a climate change signal, it is affecting animals and plants and on a global level too, he said.
Bettina Menne, a World Health Organisation (WHO) specialist who was lead author on the chapter of health, said 150,000 deaths could be attributed directly to climate change in 2000 alone, due to malnutrition and diarrhoea.
Looking to the future, the main report predicts that billions of people will face water scarcity and hundreds of millions will likely go hungry, mainly in the poorest regions least to blame for causing the problem.
Poor tropical countries will be hit worst, it says.
Worsening water shortages in thirsty countries, malnutrition caused by desiccated fields, property damage from extreme weather events and the spread of disease by mosquitoes and other vectors will amount to a punishing bill that is beyond the ability of vulnerable countries, especially in Africa, to pay.
Biodiversity and natural habitat are in for a hammering.
Even a modest increase in temperatures will bleach many coral reefs, reduce part of eastern Amazonia to a parched savannah, thaw swathes of the northern hemisphere s permafrost and change seasons for plant pollination and animal reproduction.
Green groups sounded the alarm, demanding immediate action to tackle fossil-fuel emissions and help for poor countries to cope with the threat.
This is a glimpse into an apocalyptic future, said Greenpeace International s Stephanie Tunmore. The Earth will be transformed by human-induced climate change, unless action is taken soon and fast.
It is a looming humanitarian catastrophe, ultimately threatening our global security and survival said Friends of the Earth s Catherine Pearce.
The European Commission said the new report powerfully backed its goal of setting a maximum rise of 2 C (3.6 F) in global temperatures since pre-industrial times.
