Southern and central African countries are likely to become the main victims of global warming, which is already damaging their economies through drought, an environmental report said Wednesday.
The report, issued by the World Wide Fund for Nature, said that, unless a rise in temperatures is halted, among future effects would be the spread of lowland diseases to big African cities and the destruction of wildlife and its habitat."Climate change will alter natural vegetation, wildlife habitats, crop-growing seasons and the distribution of pests and diseases throughout southern Africa," the Swiss-based body said.
"In some areas, the effects of climate change are already evident. Over the past 20 years, there has been noticeably less rainfall in southern Africa and drought has become an increasingly serious threat."
The report was issued as 150 countries debated at a U.N.-sponsored conference in Geneva whether to set tougher targets for reductions of the greenhouse gas emissions - mainly from coal and oil - widely blamed for warming.
A loose coalition of governments, the insurance industry, environmental groups, U.N. agencies including the World Health Organization and a wide-ranging panel of scientists and economists agree action is needed.
They are opposed by governments that say cutting emissions by switching away from traditional energy sources would be too costly, by energy industry groups and by some scientists who insist man's role in global warming is unproven.
The WWF, with other environmental and medical groups and small island states that fear large-scale flooding as sea levels rise, say even governments supporting cuts in emissions are not going far enough.
Current targets under the United Nations' 1992 Climate Change Convention provide for reductions by the year 2000 to the levels of 1990, which would mean cuts in the use of oil and coal and a steady move to new energy sources.