A new study on climate change says
catastrophic 4 degree rise in global temperature
is increasingly likely to occur within many people's lifetimes.
The studies have been compiled
by one of the world's leading research bodies
monitoring climate change,
the Hadley Centre in Britain.
Paul Harper reports.
This latest prediction from the Hadley Centre
brings the prospect of devastating change much closer.
He challenges the assumption
that severe warming is a threat only for future generations.
A four degree average temperature rise by the 2050s
would bring increases of 10 degrees or more in some areas
such as the Arctic and Africa.
It could mean a sharp decline in rainfall in some areas,
flooding in others and extinction
of about half of all the world's animal and plant species.