BRUSSELS: Top climate scientists from all over the world are assembling in Brussels in a five-day session to finalize a summary on the 1,400-page report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has outlined the perils of global warming and has discussed what humans can do to reduce the impact.
Nearly 400 experts will review the draft report and prepare a summary for policy makers, which is expected to be unveiled Friday.
The report largely predicts the impact the climate changes will have on the planet and its occupants and how poor countries especially will be the most deprived lot.
The report, according to draft versions available, is rather pessimistic about the prospects. It says even with concerted efforts to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions, the warming will continue for decades as the damage has already been done to the atmosphere. It predicts 1.1 to 3.2 billion people will experience scarcity of water, several millions will be facing acute poverty and natural calamities like flooding and increasing sea levels will threaten many countries.
The draft report says the poorest of the inhabitants of the world will be the hardest hit by the warming and its consequential developments. The main areas that will be bearing the brunt of the floods and the rising sea levels will be the deltas of the rivers Nile in Egypt, the Red River in Vietnam and the Ganges-Brahmaputra in Bangladesh. It also says the Himalayan glaciers could decay at very fast pace, shrinking from the present 500,000 square kilometers to 100,000 square kilometers by 2030s.
Besides the impact on human lives, the rising temperature will also have irreversible consequences for the planet's biodiversity. It says nearly 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the plant and animal species will be threatened with extinction if temperatures rise 1.5 degrees Celsius to 2.5 degrees Celsius, which according to scientists, is on the lower side of the forecasts. If the temperatures rise beyond this level, only few eco-systems will be able to sustain.
The IPCC had issued a first volume of the review, which showed scientific evidence to prove that global warming is indeed happening and predicted that temperatures would probably rise between 1.8 degrees Celsius to 4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. It also said if the carbon emissions and low-efficiency energy use are not contained, the temperatures could rise as much as 6.4 degrees Celsius.
A final volume of the report is due for release in May. It took nearly six years for the scientists to complete the assessment.
Meanwhile, the European Union asked the United States, China and India to join the international efforts to fight the climate change. EU's environment commissioner Stavros Dimas said the attitude by the U.S. in not supporting international efforts to combat global warming has prevented an international agreement on the urgently needed actions.
Dimas' remarks were made at the opening session of the experts panel's meeting.
He said a worldwide consensus is needed to take effective action in combating the situation.
