[SfN] Brussels Report Details Extreme Climate Change (fwd)

[daria karetnikov]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2000 08:42:33 -0600
From: Joan Cole <jscole at advancenet.net>
To: prairiegreens at lists.groogroo.com
Subject: [Prairiegreens] Brussels Report Details Extreme Climate Change

>CLIMATE SHIFT:
>BRUSSELS REPORT WARNS OF DESERTS IN SOUTH AND STORMS IN NORTH
>EUROPE TOLD THERE IS NO CHOICE BUT TO ADAPT
>Paul Brown, environment correspondent
>The Guardian & Observer
>Thursday November 2, 2000
>
>http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Distribution/Redirect_Artifact/0,4678,0-
3
>91415,00.html
>
>Europe must adapt to extremes of climate which will cause new deserts in
the
>south and floods and wind storms in the north, according to a new report
>before the European commission.
>
>The report, compiled by climate scientists, warns that traditional holiday
>destinations on the Mediterranean will lose their beaches as sea levels
>rise, temperatures will become too hot for comfort and many older people
>will die due to excessive heat. The Alps will lose most of their glaciers
>and uncertain snow patterns will lead to serious problems for the ski
>industry.
>
>Agriculture in the south will suffer as underground water is exhausted and
>already sparse summer rain disappears. There will not be enough water to
>grow the fruit and vegetables that fill northern supermarkets. Hot summers
>will double in frequency by 2020 and be five times as likely in Spain.
>Forest fires will increase across the whole region.
>
>Species of wading birds which live on the Mediterranean wetlands will
become
>extinct as sea levels rise, and environmental refugees will invade from
>Africa as local people move north in search of a gentler climate.
>
>The north-west of Europe will suffer least and has the technology to adapt
>to climate change. There will be some gains, including faster growing
>forests, less snow and lower heating bills. Cold winters will be half as
>frequent by 2020 and disappear altogether except in the extreme north.
>
>Dangers include more droughts, floods, storms, tidal surges and insects
>bringing new diseases.
>
>The 350-page report to the commission is edited by Martin Parry of the
>Jackson Environment Institute at the University of East Anglia, and was
>released yesterday -- two weeks before EU governments meet in the Hague to
>discuss reducing carbon dioxide emissions to try to slow global warming.
>
>Prof Parry said climate change was already measurable and the extra
>greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would usher in a warmer, stormier world.
>"It is imperative that we take the first steps to adapting to climate
change
>now by factoring the coming effects into environmental and regional
>policies," he said.
>
>Although sea walls could be built higher, buildings adapted, water
conserved
>and agriculture changed to meet new conditions, the report makes clear that
>many species will disappear. Prof Parry said nature reserves would suffer
as
>the climate changed. Mountain-top species such as alpine plants would
>disappear as vegetation changed. Cold-water species such as salmon, arctic
>char and sturgeon would die out in southern rivers.
>
>Dr Jorgen Olesin, a co-author of the report from Denmark, said:
>"Agricultural crops will move an average of 50km [30 miles] north per
decade
>so there can be advantages in places too cold to grow crops now. But unless
>we make changes to make new habitats as water temperatures rise and salt
>marshes in the Mediterranean and Baltic disappear, because of sea level
>rise, we will see extinctions of fisheries and loss of wading birds."
>
>Tony Juniper, campaigns director of Friends of the Earth, said: "The report
>is about adapting to climate change, but arctic char, salmon and wading
>birds cannot evolve fast enough to cope with the dramatic changes being
>caused by people polluting the atmosphere. The catastrophic consequences of
>rapid climate change are being made clear in ways that should focus
>governments' attention at this month's climate change negotiations on the
>urgent measures that are now absolutely necessary to reduce greenhouse gas
>emissions.
>
>"The longer governments delay what must be the inevitable transition to a
>renewable energy economy, the worse the consequences will be."
>
>Global warming is destroying coral reefs, scientists have confirmed. New
>Scientist reports that US researchers have discovered the first direct
>evidence that mass deaths of coral are caused by rising temperatures.
>
>The alarm was raised after reports of "bleaching", which occurs when warmer
>waters force corals to expel algae. During the 1997-98 El Nino weather
>system, reefs bleached throughout the world and there were mass deaths of
>coral in the Caribbean.
>
>Cores drilled from Caribbean reefs off Belize show nothing like this has
>happened for at least 3,000 years.




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