two-pronged approach is needed to minimise the crippling effects of global warming on human society.

Climate change is here now, says major report | 12:58 06 April 2007 | NewScientist.com news service | * Catherine Brahic, Brussels

Climate change is not a future problem but a present one that must be tackled now, concludes the latest chapter of a major climate report.

The report details how different amounts of global warming, ranging from 0°C to 5°C will impact on human society. It also underlines that those who will be most affected are the poor people who are least responsible for increasing levels of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. Read the summary for policy makers (PDF).

The summary of the latest publication from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was released in Brussels, Belgium, on Friday. It says a two-pronged approach is needed to minimise the crippling effects of global warming on human society.

Firstly, governments need to put in place measures to adapt human settlements to the immediate and unavoidable impacts of climate change, which are already being witnessed around the world. These impacts include diminished agricultural productivity in some areas, stronger storms, a higher likelihood of drought and heat waves, and the long-term dwindling of water supplies as mountain glaciers melt.

Adaptive measures would include building dikes to protect coastal developments from sea-level rises and sowing genetically modified crops that can grow with less water. But even these measures will be overwhelmed in future if governments do not agree now to minimise human greenhouse gas emissions, warn the report's authors. ...