Washington/Brussels - Africa faces dire water shortages for between 75 and 250 million people in addition to crop shortages during the current century at the present rate of global warming, according to a report released Friday in Brussels. "New studies confirm that Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate variability and change because of multiple stresses and low adaptive capacity," the IPCC said.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - the work of more than 2,000 scientists over six years - earlier this year projected the Earth's average temperature would rise by 1.1 to 6.4 degrees Celsius given current levels of greenhouse-gas emissions.
Friday's report projected the consequences of such change, including the global loss of 20 to 30 per cent of known species; water shortages for at least one-sixth of the world's people by century's end; and an annual increase of many millions of people affected by flooding from now through to the 2080s.
Global economic losses could range from 1 to 5 per cent of the world's gross domestic product if temperatures climb 4 degrees Celsius during this century, the report projected.
By 2020, tens or hundreds of millions of people in Africa are projected to "be exposed to an increase of water stress" due to climate change, and yields from crops could drop up to 50 per cent, the report said. The continent, already plagued by decades of desertification, faces even worse challenges as the areas suitable for growing, the rainy seasons and crop yields shrink.
"This would further adversely affect food security and exacerbate malnutrition in the continent," the report said.
Rising temperatures in Africa's large lakes - a major source of fish protein - could erode the fisheries. Coastal flooding from rising sea levels are projected to present even more problems by the end of the 21st century, the report said.
The scientists were not clear however what effect global warming would have on the most serious disease in Africa, malaria.
The IPCC report is the product of not only scientific input but also approval by 130 governments.
