More global warming problems loom

MEXICO CITY, Oct 19: Recent floods in Mexico that killed hundreds of people and left more than 200,000 others homeless were a taste of things to come, the Worldwide Fund for nature (WWF) warned today.

In the first authoritative study of the devastating effects that global warming could have on 15 countries and regions early in the 21st century, the Non-Governmental Organisation said Governments need to put in place urgent measures to curb carbon dioxide emissions, ‘otherwise the effects of climate change would be grave.’

For instance, the consequences of climate change for the United States included the flooding of cities such as New York, Boston and Miami.

In Japan, Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya also faced the risk of flooding, the study said. The great barrier reef off the Australian coast faced ocean temperature increases of between 1.5 and 3.5 degrees celsius over the next century, threatening its very survival.

In Latin America, large areas of the Amazon would become more susceptible to forest fires if the present rate of global warming persists said the study, titled ‘national and regional climate change scenarios’.

The reports were compiled by the Worldwide Fund for nature and the the climatic research unit at the University of East Anglia in England.

The world had become warmer by more than half-a-degree celsius during the past century and scientists concluded global temperatures could increase by a further 3 degrees celsius over the coming century, if there were no significant cuts in global warming emissions.

‘Evidence for the warming of our planet over the last 200 years is now overwhelming,’ said lead author of the study, Michael Hulme.

‘We’re increasingly seeing the unmistakable fingerprint of human influence on global climate. With no action to curb emissions, the climate on earth over the next century could become warmer than any human species has lived through.’

Mexico this week was still recovering from the effects of the worst floods in 40 years in nine of it’s 31 states. Unofficial figures put the death toll at 425 while 270,000 people lost their homes.

The national weather service warned that more rains could be on the way.

The WWF study, said super-hurricanes like hurricane floyd which recently bore down on the United States, could become more commonplace in the Atlantic region unless Governments do more to combat global warming.

‘1997 was the warmest year on record and every month from January through August in 1998 broke the previous world heat record for that month,’ says Paul Epstein, associate director of the Centre for health and the global environment at the Harvard Medical School.

‘Although accurate temperature records extend back only a little more than a hundred years, tree rings, ice-core samples and fossil pollen records indicate that the 1990s have been the hottest decade in over 600 years.’

Overcoming the problem of climate change rested on the successful implementation of the 1997 Kyoto protocol of conference of the parties to the climate convention - the agreement intended to cut 5 per cent of industrialised countries’ global warming emissions, starting from 2008.

But nearly two years after its adoption, the protocol has not been ratified by any industrialised nation, nor have any leaders of the industrialised countries produced any plan to implement the Kyoto protocol. Only 15 developing countries have ratified it but it needs at least 55 signatures before it can be internationally binding.

Next week the eyes of the world’s environmental community will be centred on Bonn, Germany where, starting on October 25, Governments will discuss the operating rules for the Kyoto protocol.

While the world would like to reduce carbon emissions to about three tons per citizen, the United States - the world’s biggest culprit - produced 20 tons per person. This compared to the three tonnes per person produced by China, the world’s most populous society.

Some of the dire consequences to climate change resulted from globalisation and fast-growing sectors such as tourism. Air travel remained the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas missions which increased the risk of continued global warming, the study warned.

From 600 million international travelers in 1996, numbers are forecast to leap to 700 million by next year, 1 billion by 2010 and 1.6 billion in 2020.

‘There are strong indications that a disturbing change in disease patterns has begun, and that the global warming trend identified by the more than 2,500 scientists of the inter-Governmental panel on climate change is contributing to these changes,’ Epstein said.

The declines in cloud cover over Australia was expected to increase exposure to the sun’s harmful rays and malaria was likely to re-emerge in Spain, the report said.

In many regions, upsurges of vector-and water-borne diseases which often occurred during the time of the El Nino weather phenomenon - the warming of the pacific ocean - also were on the rise.

The 1997/98 El Nino was the strongest of the century with its impacts felt worldwide - causing extreme droughts and fires in Asia, across mediterranean nations, in the Amazon, in Mexico’s tropical rain forest, in Central America and in the US states of California and Florida.

‘Eye irritation, respiratory illness and cardiovascular disease rose dramatically in many of these regions. Increased incidence of cholera occurred in many of the tropical regions affected by floods and drought’ Epstein said.

‘Heat waves killed thousands in India, and hundreds in Central Europe and the United States. In China and Bangladesh, devastating floods occurred as El Nino waned.’

The horn of Africa - flooded in late 1997 - experienced upsurges of cholera, malaria and rift valley fever killing people and livestock. Floods in Latin America along the pacific coast and Southern Brazil likewise resulted in an increase in cholera and vector-borne diseases.

‘These scenarios show us future climates that we must avoid,’ said Adam Markham, director of WWF’s climate change campaign. ‘The future of our planet hangs in the balance but every ton of carbon pollution we can prevent from entering the atmosphere will help to lighten the load.’

The report studied Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Canada, China, Germany, the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), Indonesia, Japan, Mesoamerica (Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Caribbean islands), Northern Andes (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela), Philippines, Russia, the United States and Zimbabwe. (IPS)

Pakistan oppn ends anti-Govt campaign

ISLAMABAD, Oct 19: Pakistan’s multi-party opposition alliance has ended its anti-Government campaign after the country’s armed forces ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup last week.

The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), formed by 19 political and religious parties with a one-point agenda to oust Sharif for his alleged undemocratic rule and foreign policy fiasco, has ended its struggle, group leader Tahir-ul Qadri told reporters in Lahore yesterday.

With October 12 military intervention, the GDA’s agenda stands fulfilled and the struggle of allied parties has ended, he said.

Qadri, who heads Pakistan Awami Tehrik, lauded the armed forces for uprooting the gang of political mafia which had held the nation hostage after crippling its economy.

He said the programme of accountability should be ruthless and across-the-board as promised by Army Chief Gen Pervez Musharraf in his nationwide speech on Sunday.

The process of accountability should be taken to its logical conclusion so that the scourge of corruption is uprooted in such a way that no one could dare do it again, he said. (AFP)

China hopes ‘normalcy’ will return to Pak

BEIJING, Oct 19: China today expressed the hope that normalcy would soon return to Pakistan where a bloodless military coup deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif a week ago.

We have taken note of the relevant reports. As a friendly neighbour of Pakistan, it is our sincere hope that normalcy can be restored in Pakistan as soon as possible, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhang Qiyue told reporters here.

Asked specifically to clarify the word normalcy —whether it meant early polls or a return to civilian rule —zhang refused to comment further saying, I don’t have nothing to elaborate on.

China on October 13, expressed deep concern over the military coup the previous day in Pakistan where the Nawaz Sharif Government was dismissed by Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf, who declared himself as the chief executive of the country.

China’s latest comments came in response to Gen Musharraf’s address on Sunday outlining the military regime’s policies in Pakistan.

Diplomatic sources here, however, said they did not expect any significant change in Beijing’s relationship with Islamabad under the military Government.

It will be business as usual, a Pakistani diplomat said commenting on the Sino-Pak relations. (PTI)

Jiang faces pro Tibet protesters on arrival to UK

LONDON, Oct 19: Chinese President Jiang Zemin arrived here last night for his historic visit to Britain but faced pro-Tibet protesters within minutes after landing at the airport.

According to media reports, two protesters were arrested as 20-odd people demonstrated in front of the hotel where Jiang was spending the first night of his four-day visit, the first by a Chinese leader to Britain.

His visit is expected to trigger off demonstrations against China’s alleged suppression of human rights and its occupation of Tibet.

We are planning to make sure that protesters are out at every step of the state visit, organiser of a Tibetan protest group said yesterday.

Jiang will ride with Queen Elizabeth down the mall today in a horse-drawn carriage to Buckingham Palace marking the official commencement of the visit.

The queen and her husband Prince Philip would give the Chinese leader a ceremonial welcome at the palace after the ride and a state banquet would be held in the evening. (PTI)

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