Dust storms intensifying, UN says

[dArKeR]

AP , JEJU, SOUTH KOREA
Thursday, Apr 01, 2004,Page 5

Dangerous dust storms in Asia have intensified fivefold over the past half-century, posing health and economic hazards as part of global trend toward bigger natural disasters, the UN warned yesterday.

The dust storms originate in the desert regions of Mongolia and increasingly China, where 30 percent of the land is parched by over-farming, overgrazing, deforestation and changing weather patterns, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) said.

The sands whip up as far away as the Korean Peninsula, Japan and the Pacific basin, for a combined economic loss of US$6.5 billion a year, UNEP said.

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