Saturday, September 13, 2008

Global warming may submerge Manila—expert

Manila Standard Today (Philippines): Climate change could have a devastating impact on the Philippines, leading to widespread destruction of the country’s plants and animals and flooding the capital Manila, a Nasa scientist warned here yesterday. The continued melting of Arctic ice caps, brought on by climate change, could cause sea levels to rise by seven meters or 23 feet, said National Aeronautics and Space Administration physicist Josefino Comiso.

He said the country’s fish stocks would be depleted and many species of plant and animal life would die because of the change in ocean temperatures caused by climate change. “The Philippines is a country that is among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change,” Comiso said.

A senior research scientist at a Nasa center that monitors the effects of global warming, Comiso made the warning after attending a conference of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, the government weather bureau. Comiso said he was working on a project, to be financed by the bureau, to monitor the effects of global warming in the Philippines.

Map of Manila by Seav, Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

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