(ANSA-AFP) - COPENHAGEN, MAR 11 - Europe could suffer
"catastrophic" consequences from climate change if it fails to
take urgent and decisive action to adapt to risks, a new EU
analysis warned Monday. Areas in southern Europe are most at
risk, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said in its first
report on the risks the continent faces from climate change,
driven by human burning of fossil fuels. The dangers include
fires, water shortages and their effects on agricultural
production, while low-lying coastal regions face threats of
flooding, erosion and saltwater intrusion.
"Many of these risks have already reached critical levels and
could become catastrophic without urgent and decisive action,"
the agency said. That doesn't mean northern Europe is spared the
negative impact, as floods in Germany and forest fires in Sweden
have demonstrated in recent years. "Extreme heat, drought,
wildfires, and flooding, as experienced in recent years, will
worsen in Europe even under optimistic global warming scenarios
and affect living conditions throughout the continent," the EEA
warned. "These events are the new normal," EEA director Leena
Yla-Mononen told a press briefing ahead of the report's release.
"It should be the wake-up call. The final wake-up call," she
added. The report lists 36 risks related to climate in Europe,
21 of which demand more immediate action and eight were
"particularly urgent." (ANSA-AFP).
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