Buenos Aires - Large swathes of the planet will be plunged into misery in the next 50 years by climate change, with many millions ravaged by hunger, water shortages and flooding, according to new scientific evidence published yesterday.
Findings from Britain's Hadley Centre for Climate Change presented to 170 countries in Buenos Aires shows that parts of the Amazon rain forest will turn into desert by 2050, threatening the world with an unstoppable runaway greenhouse effect.
The new and startling findings are the result of billions of calculations made by the world's biggest super-computer, installed at the Hadley Centre in Berkshire. The latest figures show Earth is heating up fast, with 1998 already the hottest year since reliable world-wide records began 140 years ago.
Perhaps the most startling finding is the prospect of a runaway greenhouse effect after 2050. Previously it was thought that the speed at which global warming happened would be moderated by the extra growth in plants and trees made possible because of more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide fertiliser effect stimulates plants to grow faster.
The latest information shows that this benefit is lost in 2050 because of lack of rainfall in key areas.