Climate impact report sets scene for future

LONDON - Land and sea temperatures around Britain have risen sharply under the influence of climate change and more is on the way, a government report said on Friday.

The Central England land temperature -- the national benchmark -- has risen by one degree Celsius since the 1970s.

Over the same period the temperature of the seas around the country has risen by 0.7 degrees, the report from the Department of the Environment said.

But while severe windstorms around Britain have become more frequent in recent decades, they are no more common than at the start of the last century, the report said.

"The report details the trends in Britain and sets the scene for those to follow," an environment department spokesman said.

Four more reports over the next nine months from the government funded UK Climate Impact Programme will give projections for the likely impacts of different temperature rises on land and sea,

Friday's launch is timed to coincide with the end of the first week of a two week meeting of United Nations' environment officials and ministers on the Indonesian island of Bali to tackle the climate crisis.

Scientists say global average temperatures will rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius this century due to carbon emissions.

They further predict that even a rise of two degrees will melt ice caps, change ocean currents, cause floods and famines and put millions of lives at risk.

Britain is pushing through legislation that will for the first time set a legally binding target for a national government to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent by 2050.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has said he will ask a special committee to be set up via the Climate Change Bill to look at raising the end target to 80 percent.

However, while the government says this shows leadership in the battle against global warming, carbon emissions have risen in the 10 years of the Labour government and Benn admitted this week that the country will miss by a wide margin its goal of cutting emissions by 20 percent by 2010.