A European Environment Agency report warns Europe faces devastating climate changes unseen on the continent for 5,000 years.
The report, released Tuesday by the Copenhagen-based EEA, is a 5-year threat assessment across 32 nations, focusing on global warming. It notes the four hottest years on record were 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004, and that 10 percent of Alpine glaciers disappeared during the summer of 2003.
Jacqueline McGlade, EEA's executive director, said: "Without effective action over several decades, global warming will see ice sheets melting in the north and the spread of deserts from the south. ... (and) we will be living in atmospheric conditions that human beings have never experienced."
Copyright 2005 by United Press International
