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How global warming will change the face of Europe
Last updated at 11:07am on 10.01.07
Europe's wealth, built up over centuries, is under threat from global warming, EU chiefs will warn today.
They will raise the alarm over soaring temperatures killing off many traditional industries.
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Droughts and violent storms will become more common, tens of thousands more people will die in summer heatwaves and huge sums will need to be spent to protect towns and cities from floods.
Fish stocks could continue to dwindle in European waters, including the North Sea.
EU chiefs are so concerned about the threat to Europe's ecosystems that they are calling for developed countries to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.
If other wealthy nations such as America and Canada refuse to sign up to this goal, EU chiefs are proposing a 20 per cent unilateral reduction for member states to protect their economies.
EU scientists want to hold back global warming so it does not rise more than 1.4C above the current level.
The picture is not all gloom for Britain, with warmer temperatures here set to lead to a boom in agriculture, with longer growing seasons, and in the tourism industry as millions of holidaymakers choose the UK and other northern countries to avoid unbearable temperatures in the Mediterranean.
However, the benefits are likely to be offset by the devastation caused to the economies of other EU countries which could see agriculture, including vineyards, and ski resorts blighted by climate change, as well as uncomfortable temperatures here becoming more common.
“Climate change will alter the supply of European ecosystem services over the next century,” the report warns.
“While it will result in enhancement of some ecosystem services, a large portion will be adversely impacted because of drought, reduced soil fertility, fire and other climate changedriven factors.
"Europe can expect a decline in arable land, a decline in Mediterranean forest areas, a decline in the terrestrial carbon sink and soil fertility, and an increase in the number of basins with water scarcity. It will increase the loss of biodiversity.”
The European Commission report follows Sir Nicholas Stern's study, commissioned by Chancellor Gordon Brown, which gave an apocalyptic vision of London at risk of floods and soaring temperatures with Tube journeys becoming unbearable and the city's clay foundations drying out and becoming unstable.
The EU scientists predicted that the annual summer migration of 100 million people from northern Europe to the Mediterranean in search of “sun, sand and sea” will decline as this region will be too hot for many to enjoy holidays.
Instead, tourists will head to beaches on the North Sea and other northern European coasts.
Reader views (3)
Wake up and smell the roses (or maybe bauhinia's might be the flowers of choice). Although to do so, you'd need to get your heads out of the sand first. Have you had to wear a coat this winter? Doesn't that strike you as a tad odd?
- Tobias, Bristol
Clearly Doug, we're already being governed by aliens. You know it's just a scare tactic to raise taxes and look good while doing it.
Sorry Mr Taxman, we won't fall for it!
- Jay, London
.....and little green beings will land and take over Europe (or is that what has happened already?)
- Doug Watt, London E14
