Mediterranean Likely To Bear Brunt Of European Climate Breakdown - Reuters

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OSLO, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The Mediterranean region will suffer most in Europe from global warming and changing land use this century, with more droughts damaging everything from farming to tourism, an international study said on Thursday. Elsewhere in Europe, low-lying Alpine ski resorts were likely to go out of business, forests would expand, many species of animals and plants would be driven north and winter floods would worsen in rivers from the Rhine to the Rhone.

The report, by 16 European research institutes and published in the journal Science, is the most detailed forecast yet of the impact for west Europe of climate change by 2080, twinned with changes in land use linked to shifting populations and policies. "Among all European regions, the Mediterranean appeared most vulnerable to global change," it said. "The impacts included water shortages, increased risk of forest fires, northward shifts in the distribution of typical tree species and losses of agricultural potential," it said.

Mountain regions also seemed especially vulnerable because of a rise in the lower limit of snow cover, according to the report led by Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Change Impact Research and Wageningen University in the Netherlands. In the Alps, reliable snow cover in winter would rise to 1,500-1,750 metres (4,920-5,740 ft) from 1,300 now, threatening the existence of many ski resorts and so undermining tourism.

The study projected less rain in south Europe and rising risks of heatwaves like in 2003 when 35,000 people died. By 2080, an extra 14-38 percent of the Mediterranean population would be living in areas with strain on water supplies.

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L26623329.htm