From Alaska Report

Scientists today issued a grim forecast for life on earth in publishing their latest assessment of the impact of climate change.

A warming world will place hundreds of millions of people at greater risk of food and water shortages and threaten the survival of thousands of species of plants and animals, the scientists said. Floods, heat waves, storms and droughts are all expected to increase, with people in poor countries suffering the worst effects.

Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the expert panel that published the report, said: “It’s the poorest of the poor in the world, and this includes poor people even in prosperous societies, who are going to be the worst hit.”

Martin Parry, who co-chaired the working group that produced the report, said there was evidence that climate change was having a direct effect on animals, plants and water. “For the first time, we are no longer arm-waving with models. This is empirical data, we can actually measure it.”

He said four areas of the world were particularly vulnerable: “The Arctic, where temperatures are rising fast and ice is melting; sub-Saharan Africa, where dry areas are forecast to get dryer; small islands, because of their inherent lack of capacity to adapt, and Asian mega-deltas, where billions of people will be at increased risk of flooding.”

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