2 April 2007The AgeAlister Doyle
Global warming could cause more hunger in sub-Saharan Africa and melt most Himalayan glaciers by the 2030s, a draft UN report due on Friday warns.
The UN climate panel, giving the most authoritative study on the regional impact of climate change since 2001, also warns that the poorest nations are likely to suffer most. It predicts more heatwaves in countries such as the United States, and damage to coral reefs including the Great Barrier Reef.
"We are talking about a potentially catastrophic set of developments," Achim Steiner, the head of the UN Environment Program, said of the likely impact of rising temperatures, widely blamed on greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.
"Even a half-metre rise in sea levels would have catastrophic effects in Bangladesh and some island states," he said.
Scientists and officials from more than 100 countries meet in Belgium from today to review and approve a 21-page summary for policy makers in the report amid disputes on some findings, including on how far rising temperatures may contribute to spreading disease.
Glaciers in the Himalayas, the world's highest mountain range, will melt, affecting hundreds of millions of people, according to the draft by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which draws on work by 2500 scientists.
