Weather Warnings Hang Over Tense Climate Talks

[villager]

Weather Warnings Hang Over Tense Climate Talks

By Mary Milliken

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) - Experts warned on Wednesday that the world is seeing some of its hottest weather and worst natural disaster damage as environment ministers tried to crack U.S. resistance to joining international efforts against global warming.

The U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization said in its annual report that 2004 would be the fourth-hottest since record-keeping began 150 years ago and global warming would continue with more extreme weather like hurricanes or droughts.

Natural disasters will end up costing insurers a record $35 billion this year, after hurricanes lashed the Caribbean and southeastern United States and a record ten typhoons soaked Japan, the U.N.'s Environment Program said.

"It is, I believe, unquestioned that climate change is happening now and it is happening at an even higher speed than we expected before," program director Klaus Toepfer said.

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The conference of nearly 200 nations has turned into a polarized affair, with the European Union and nations supporting the Kyoto protocol to cut greenhouse gases in one camp and the United States, the world's biggest polluter, in the other.

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http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=7106661

[Old Mouse]

1. every report on climate change has had one constant

It is happening faster than predicted