Report indicates continued severe weather problems still looming

Friday, March 30, 2012

A 586-page report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released Wednesday indicated governments should prepare for continued weather-related catastrophes. The report noted highly populated and very poor areas are at highest risk, and stressed no country or continent is safe from these ongoing threats. The panel consists of Nobel Prize-winners, whose work in climatology indicates more intense tropical cyclones.

The report placed blame regarding recent disasters on a combination of climate change caused by humans, population changes and poverty. The panel was founded in 1988 by the United Nations.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates recent severe weather conditions are costing upwards of US$80 billion per year. The report focused heavily on issues pertaining to coastal areas of the United States, specifically noting damage in those areas could increase 20 percent by 2030.

The authors of the report stated some portions of India may become uninhabitable for floods and other problems.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change pointed out other cities at lesser risk, such as: Miami, Shanghai, Bangkok, China's Guangzhou, Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, Myanmar's Yangon (formerly known as Rangoon), and India's Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta). Inhabitants of small island nations may have to leave their homes because of elevated sea levels and major storms. A total of 220 authors worked on the report.

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Sources

"'Climate change behind extreme weathers'" — ianslive.in, March 29, 2012
Seth Borenstein. "Mumbai, Miami on list for big weather disasters" — MSNBC.com, March 28, 2012

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