U.N. Plans Guide To Fighting Climate-Change Disasters
Date: 26-Mar-09
Country: NORWAY
Author: Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
U.N. Plans Guide To Fighting Climate-Change Disasters Photo: Vietnam News
Agency/Thanh Long
A flooded paddy field is seen in Vietnam's central province
of Quang Ngai January 2, 0009.
Photo: Vietnam News Agency/Thanh Long
OSLO - A proposed U.N. study of climate extremes will be a practical guide
for tackling natural disasters and fill a gap in past reports focused on the
gradual effects of global warming, experts said.
Floods, mudslides, droughts, heatwaves or storms are often the main causes
of destruction and human suffering tied to climate change, rather than the
creeping rise in average temperatures blamed on a build-up of greenhouse
gases.
"We are saying a lot about changes in mean temperatures but the impacts on
real people, real companies, are taking place at the extremes," said Chris
Field, a co-chair of a group in the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC).
Better knowledge of extreme climate events could help governments, companies
or humanitarian organizations to cope with natural disasters, he told
Reuters on Tuesday during a March 23-26 IPCC meeting in Oslo.
"Most importantly (a special study) will be a guide for how we can get going
with practical measures in countries vulnerable to climate change," said
Ellen Hambro, head of the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority which is
hosting the talks.
About 100 scientists are meeting in Oslo to map out a possible special U.N.
report about climate extremes by Field's group, under a proposal by Norway
and the U.N.'s International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
Rising sea levels, for instance, are a threat to coasts, especially
low-lying tropical islands. But most erosion happens during extreme storms,
said Field, who is director of the U.S. Carnegie Institution's Department of
Global Ecology.
And plant ranges are gradually shifting because of climate change. But crop
failures that can lead to hunger often happen because of a single extremely
hot day when flowers are maturing.
A special report would take about two years to write, if approved by an
wider IPCC meeting in Turkey next month. Field said there was enthusiasm
among experts for the idea. "It's something ripe for progress now," he said.
Among benefits, Field said that better knowledge of extremes could help
develop better coastal defenses to withstand storms and rising seas. It
might also help relief agencies plan ways to manage heatwaves, droughts or
floods.
(Editing by Louise Ireland)
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