Reuters: Action on warming could curb nightmare impacts

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2007-03-19T175045Z_01_L19265174_RTRUKOC_0_US-GLOBALWARMING.xml

Action on warming could curb nightmare impacts

Mon Mar 19, 2007 1:53 PM ET

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - Cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases can mute the worst impacts of global warming, such as water shortages for billions of people or extinction of almost half of Amazonian tree species, a draft U.N. report shows.

The report, due for release on April 6, foresees ever worsening damage to the planet as temperatures gain, including rising seas that could swamp low-lying Pacific island states or declining crop yields that could mean hunger for millions.

"The longer we go without action (to curb greenhouse gases) the more likely it is that some of the big feedbacks will kick in," Richard Betts, manager of the climate impacts research team at the British Met Office and Hadley Center.

"We can make a big difference by either choosing a low emissions scenario or a high emissions scenario," said Gunnar Myhre, of the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo.

...