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Strucnjaci iz WWF-a upozoravaju da je prosecna temperatura evropskih gradova skocila za 2.2 Celizijusa




OSLO (Reuters) -- Summers in European cities have grown up to 2.2 Celsius (4.0 Fahrenheit) hotter since the 1970s and global warming may cause ever more sweltering temperatures, the WWF conservation group said.

The rises, above UN estimates for average world temperature gains, could further strain health services in Europe's cities, a WWF report said.

A heat wave in 2003 was blamed for killing 40,000 people, mostly in Italy and France.

The WWF survey of 16 capitals from Stockholm to Rome showed average temperature rises of at least 1.0C in all cities except Dublin (0.7C), Helsinki (0.8 ) and Copenhagen (0.2) in summer months of 2001-04 compared with 1970-74.

At the top of the range, average temperatures in Madrid had risen by 2.2C to a 24-hour average of 23.7C, London and Luxembourg were 2.0C hotter, with Athens and Lisbon trailing with gains of 1.9C.

"There has been a very significant increase in the average temperatures during summer for most of the cities," said Imogen Zethoven, head of the WWF's PowerSwitch campaign that encourages a shift to renewable energies.

The WWF said temperature rises could only be partly explained by "heat islands" caused by growing urban populations.

A build-up of heat-trapping gases from fossil fuels burned in power plants, cars and factories was more likely a main cause but the exact reasons were unclear, Zethoven said. -------------------Vicious circle "The outlook for cities is grim," she told Reuters. "Global warming means this trend will keep on and there may be a vicious circle."

Wider use of air-conditioning, for instance, might help curb health risks but would raise demand for electricity -- much of it generated from fossil fuels. "We can only assume" that temperatures may be rising sharply in other cities around the world, she said.

United Nations estimated in 2001 that world temperatures had risen by 0.6C in the 20th century, largely because of a build-up of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

It projects that temperatures could rise by a further 1.4-5.8C by 2100, threatening more extreme weather like floods, droughts and storms and melting glaciers, raising world sea levels by up to a meter.

Some scientists say fears about global warming are exaggerated because many meteorological stations are near cities and so their thermometers are heated by the simple fact that cities are expanding.

Zethoven said UN studies indicated that the "heat island" effect could only account for a fraction of the rise.

"And there's no clear linkage between city heat and population growth," she said. At the top end of the temperature scale, "London has had a one percent rise in population since the 1970s while Madrid's population has doubled," she said.

Of the other cities surveyed, temperatures in Stockholm were up 1.5C, Warsaw 1.3, Brussels, Rome, Berlin and Vienna 1.2 and Paris and Amsterdam 1.0.

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