Cyclone in Burma due to climate change: CSE
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08/05/2008
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Asian Age (New Delhi)
Pointing fingers at climate change to be the likely cause of the cyclone Nargis, which killed nearly 22,000 people in Burma, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has cautioned nations to speed up the curtailing of the emission of greenhouse gases. Citing from Inter-governmental panel on climate change has predicted in its report that "based on a range of models, it is likely that future tropical cyclones (typhoons and hurricanes) will become more intense, with larger peak wind speeds and more heavy precipitation associated with ongoing increases of tropical sea surface temperatures". The CSE said there are enough scientific evidence that climate change will lead to intensification of tropical cyclones. The CSE has also asked developed nations to bring down their emission levels, which have added bulk emission of the greenhouse gases. "Nargis is a sign of things to come. In 2007, Bangladesh was devastated by the tropical cyclone Sidr. The victims of these cyclones are climate change victims and their plight should remind the rich world that it is doing too little to contain its greenhouse gas emissions," said director of CSE, Ms Sunita Narain. The IPCC report had also stated that there will be increase in the intensity of cyclones as a result of global warming. "There is observational evidence of an increase of intense tropical cyclone activity in the North Atlantic since about 1970, correlated with increases of tropical sea surface temperatures," the report has predicted. Terming it as a challenge of climate science to give absolute predictions or direct correlations between natural events and climate change predict, CSE said there are enough evidence to make connections. "For instance, we know that rainfall in our world will become more variable