HOW CLIMATE CHANGE WILL ALTER EUROPE

INDEPENDENT, UK - Europe, the richest and most fertile continent and the
model for the modern world, will be devastated by climate change, the
European Union predicts today. . . Much of the continent's age-old
fertility, which gave the world the vine and the olive and now produces
mountains of grain and dairy products, will not survive the climate
change forecast for the coming century, the scientists say, and its
wildlife will be devastated. Europe's modern lifestyles, from summer
package tours to winter skiing trips, will go the same way, they say, as
the Mediterranean becomes too hot for holidays and snow and ice
disappear from mountain ranges such as the Alps - with enormous economic
consequences. The social consequences will also be felt as heat-related
deaths rise and extreme weather events, such as storms and floods,
become more violent. . .

The report predicts there will be some European "winners" from climate
change, at least initially. In the north of the continent, agricultural
yields will increase with a lengthened growing season and a longer
frost-free period. Tourism may become more popular on the beaches of the
North Sea and the Baltic as the Mediterranean becomes too hot, and
deaths and diseases related to winter cold will fall.

But the negative effects will far outweigh the advantages. . . "The
annual migration of northern Europeans to the countries of the
Mediterranean in search of the traditional summer 'sun, sand and sea'
holiday is the single largest flow of tourists across the globe,
accounting for one-sixth of all tourist trips in 2000. . . .

While they are losing their tourists, the countries of the Med may also
be losing their agriculture. Crop yields may drop sharply as drought
conditions, exacerbated by more frequent forest fires, make farming ever
more difficult. And that is not the only threat to Europe's food
supplies. Some stocks of coldwater fish in areas such as the North Sea
will move northwards as the water warms.

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2140265.ece

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