The world has the technological might to combat global climate changes but the political will is missing, top UN climate experts said in a report issued today.
But the world's community has to act quickly to stem the problem of global warming, the scientists added in their report, by putting far more emphasis on renewable energies and less on carbon-based energies such as oil and coal.
It is imperative to pour more resources into making solar and wind power more affordable and to use the political process to change the lifestyle of many people in the developed world, notably by cutting out-put of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases", according to the report.
The conclusions came in the final of three assessments on climate change published by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - a group of 3,000 scientists from around the world.
In the first report released in Shanghai in January, they warned that global temperatures could rise by between one and a half and 5.8 degrees Celsius (2.5 to 10.4 Fahrenheit) by the end of the 21st century, causing widespread flooding of low-lying coastal areas.
In the second, issued on February 19th in Geneva, they said climate change would cause more floods and more droughts, diminish agricultural yields and worsen sanitary conditions in the 21st century.
AFP