Swiss scientists are predicting that from 2070 onwards summer heatwaves in Europe will be the norm as a result of climate change.
The results of the EU-Swiss funded project are published in Nature magazine and indicate that one summer in two will be at least as hot as 2003 when daytime temperatures exceeed 30 degrees celsius and soared to peaks of 40 degrees.
The heatwave in 2003 created huge forest fires in several countries, destroying about three to four times more woodland in France than usual, severe droughts and water shortages, while mortality rates for the elderly and sick rose sharply. That temperature changes would also make it harder for farmers to adapt to the new conditions by bringing in new crops more adapted to a hotter climate.
The study modelled climate for the period 2071 to 2100 in Europe on the assumption of a doubling of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from pollution.
Study shows that global warming threatens to kill off a quarter of all life on land by 2050
The main cause for this mass extinction are greenhouses gases and the authors of the report published in Nature are calling for urgent action to cut greenhouse gases and actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The researchers used computer models to predict the survival rate of 1,103 species in six regions rich in biodiversity, representing 20 percent of the planet’s land area.
The UN Environment Program has warned that this figure may be underestimation because it does not take into account associated extinction of interdependent plants and animals.
There are also implications for humans, particularly in the developing world, with a major reliance on natural biodiversity as sources for essential goods and services as food, shelter and medicines.
