Main facts in global warming report

dpa German Press Agency Published: Friday April 6, 2007

Brussels/Washington- An important international climate
report released Friday in Brussels anticipates catastrophic
consequences for humans as well as other species as the Earth warms
from heat-trapping gasses produced by human society.
In February, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) projected the Earth's average temperature would rise by 1.1 to
6.4 degrees Celsius given the current rate of emissions.

A summary of the IPCC's second report released Friday - the work
of more than 2,000 scientists over six years - anticipates the
following consequences of the rising temperature:

- One-sixth of the world population - including 1 billion people
in Central, South, East and South-East Asia - could experience water
shortages by century's end. These people depend on water supplies
from mountain glacier melting, which would initially grow by 10 to 40
per cent but then diminish by century's end through evaporation and
use.

- By mid-century, water supplies could decrease by 10-30 per cent
in dry regions and the tropics. In Africa by 2020, an estimated 75
to 250 million people are projected to be exposed to water shortages.

- 20 to 30 per cent of plant and animal species known to humanity
are "likely" (meaning a more than 66-per-cent chance) to be at
increased risk of extinction if temperatures rise 1.5 to 2.5 degrees
Celsius this century. Major changes would occur to ecosystem
structures, the way species interact, and the geographic ranges of
species.

- Production of food and forest products at higher latitudes would
initially increase slightly, but then decrease, given a 1 to 3 degree
Celsius temperature rise. For Asia by mid-century, crop yields could
increase by 20 per cent in East and South-East Asia; but decrease up
to 30 per cent in Central and South Asia.

- At lower latitudes and tropical regions, crop productivity would
decrease and hunger increase with a temperature rise of 1 to 2
degrees Celsius. In Africa, yields from rain-fed agriculture crops
could be reduced by up to 50 per cent by 2020.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency

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