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CLIMATE SITUATION CRITICAL, EXPERTS WARN

Sarid, March 7, 2007

A new global warming report issued by the United Nations last week brings some ominous news; it warns that Asia faces severe flooding, water shortages, hunger risks and disease problems if the rate of current global warming continues. 

The report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), titled “Climate Change 2007: Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability,” projects that the Earth's average temperature would rise by 1.1 to 6.4 degrees Celsius if the current levels of greenhouse-gas emissions stay unchanged.

The IPCC, which groups 2,500 scientists, notes that ”glacier melt in Himalayas is projected to increase flooding, rock avalanche from destabilized slopes, and affect water resources within the next two decades.” As a consequence, IPCC scientists argue, rising sea levels will flood coastal areas and heavily populated mega-delta regions in South, East and South-East Asia.

Nonetheless, the report states, as the glaciers recede there will be decreased river flows throughout the region, and by the 2050s communities living in the river basins of Central, South, East and South-East Asia will lack fresh water. This is not only because of climate change but also due to "population growth and increasing demands from higher standards of living," the report notes.  

The climate change is expected to interfere with sustainable development in the poor countries and the economic losses will he felt throughout the region. The climate change will contribute to the ongoing shifts in ecosystems, including the global loss of 20 to 30 percent of known species.

The report, released in Brussels, Belgium, is the second global warming document issued this year by the United Nations. It is a follow-up to a report issued I February by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It was the fourth assessment over the past fifteen years.