'Voices From Afghanistan' Exhibit Profiled In 'The Washington Post'

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UN Warns Of 'Alarming' Effects Of Climate Change

April 10, 2007

Wheat may disappear from Africa altogether (ITAR-TASS)

April 10, 2007 -- According to a new UN environmental report by the the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC), climate change may lead to severe food and water shortages for an extra 130 million people across Asia by 2050 unless urgent action is taken.

A summary of the full IPCC report -- written and reviewed by almost 450 of the world's top scientists -- was released on April 6. Further details were unveiled today in a series of regional press conferences around the world.

The IPCC report suggests a 2-degree Celsius increase in air temperatures could decrease rice yields by 5 percent to 12 percent in China.

In Bangladesh, it predicts rice production may fall by 10 percent and wheat production by 30 percent by 2050, while water shortages will become more common in India as the Himalayan glaciers decline.

The report says Africa is the continent most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, but is not acting fast enough to stem the dire economic and environmental damage of greenhouse-gas emissions. It predicts that wheat may disappear on the African continent by the 2080s.

(AFP, AP, dpa)

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