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The report lists 36 climate-related risks in Europe (representative ones)
A new EU analysis warned on Monday that Europe could suffer “catastrophic” consequences from climate change unless it takes urgent and decisive action to adapt to the risks.
Regions of southern Europe are most at risk, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said in its first report on the climate risks facing the continent.
Hazards include fire, water scarcity, and their impact on agricultural production, and low-lying coastal areas face the threat of flooding, erosion, and saltwater intrusion.
“Many of these risks have already reached critical levels and could become catastrophic without urgent and decisive action,” the agency said.
That doesn’t mean Northern Europe is immune, as floods in Germany and forest fires in Sweden have proven in recent years.
“Heat waves, droughts, wildfires and floods such as those experienced in recent years will worsen in Europe even under optimistic global warming scenarios, impacting living conditions across the continent,” the EEA warned.
The report identified 36 climate-related risks in Europe, of which 21 required more urgent action and eight were “particularly urgent”.
At the top of the list were risks to ecosystems, primarily related to coastal and marine environments.
For example, a combination of anthropogenic factors such as heatwaves, ocean acidification and oxygen depletion, pollution and eutrophication (meaning excess nutrients that disrupt aquatic ecosystems), and fishing threaten marine ecosystems. . The report noted.
“This could lead to significant biodiversity loss, including mass mortality and reduced ecosystem services,” the report said.
According to the EEA, European governments and citizens unanimously recognize the risks and agree that taking more action, faster, should be a priority.
“More action is needed to achieve stronger policies,” Ira Mononen stressed.
Despite the warning, the agency also acknowledged that “substantial progress” had been made among member states in “understanding and preparing for the climate risks they face.”
“These events are the new normal,” EEA Commissioner Leena Ira Mononen said at a press conference ahead of the report’s release.
“This has to be a wake-up call. A final wake-up call,” she added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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