Perilous Times and Climate Change
2010 'exceptional year' for weather disasters:
by Staff Writers
Berlin (AFP) Oct 28, 2010
Catastrophic floods in Pakistan, wildfires in Russia, hurricanes in
Mexico: 2010 has so far been an "exceptional" year for weather
disasters, German reinsurance giant Munich Re said Thursday.
"This year really has been a year of weather records," Peter Hoeppe, an
expert from Munich Re's Geo Risks Research department, told journalists.
"The first nine months of the year have seen the highest number of
weather-related events since Munich Re started keeping records," he
added.
Hoeppe added that a clear pattern of continuing global warming was
contributing to the natural disasters.
2010 has so far been the warmest since measurements began 130 years
ago. New temperature records were set in Russia (37.8 degrees
centigrade) and in Asia (53.5 degrees in Pakistan).
Only last month, a new temperature record was set in Los Angeles, with
the mercury hitting 45 degrees. "It is clear that global warming is
getting worse," said Hoeppe.
And he added that he did not expect much from the forthcoming climate
meeting in Cancun, following what he termed the "genuine catastrophe"
of the last such summit in Copenhagen.
That meeting, in December, broke up acrimoniously amid bickering
between developed and developing nations over who bore the main burden
to stop global warming.
"Our expectations are lower than they were one year ago in Copenhagen.
In Copenhagen, there had been a commitment to success and there were
over 100 heads of state. That simply won't be the case in Cancun," he
said.
On the key issue of CO2 reduction, "there is no movement in the United
States and as long as the United States doesn't move, then China will
not be prepared to move and these are the two main players," he said.
The Cancun meeting, from November 29 to December 10, is meant to firm
up a basic agenda for continuing talks on a new protocol to replace the
Kyoto accord which expires in 2012.
Earlier Thursday, France's Academy of Science published a report
written by 120 scientists from France and abroad stating that global
warming was unquestionably due to human activity.