Green groups blame Russia drought on global warming

The Economic Times , Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Correspondent : REUTERS

MOSCOW: Environmental groups said on Monday global warming was to blame for Russia's worst drought in decades and expressed hope this would persuade Russia to cut its carbon emissions, among the world's highest.

Since late June, central parts of European Russia have suffered scorching heat, with temperatures reaching 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in the shade. A farmers' group said the heat had destroyed crops in an area the size of Portugal.

The drought and heatwave have dominated state-run media for weeks but many Russians remain sceptical about climate change. Green groups say the apathy has allowed the government to avoid tough measures to cut carbon emissions.

"The heatwave of the past two months is a consequence of climate change and Greenpeace experts have found evidence of this," the organisation said in a statement. "The government of Russia, one way or another, will have to take measures to combat the effects of climate change."

Greenpeace said the drought was compounded by an unusually dry 2009, which sapped moisture from the earth in important agricultural regions, including Volgograd and Voronezh in the south of European Russia.

Spring 2009 was unusually dry and a dry early winter sucked the remaining moisture from the earth, Greenpeace said. The snow that fell in mid-winter was unable to soak into the frozen soil and was washed away by spring floods.

Alexei Yablokov, head of the Green Russia political movement and an adviser to the Russian Academy of Sciences, said this summer's heatwave had broken all records.

"This is linked to global warming, though of course you can't say it's the only cause ... Such episodes are very important to convince people, but I am not sure anything will change quickly," he said.

Russia's national weather service was more doubtful, saying that, despite evidence of a gradual rise in winter temperatures in recent years, there was not enough evidence yet to prove that global warming was changing Russia's climate.

"One episode is not enough to prove the link with global warming," said Dmitry Kiktev, deputy head of Russia's state weather agency.

"The long-term statistics show that our winters have definitely become warmer over the past 30 years. But there is no clear sign of the same thing happening with our summers."

President Dmitry Medvedev said last year that by 2020, his country would reduce emissions by between 10 and 15 percent from 1990 levels. In reality, this means a 30 percent rise from current levels since emissions tumbled after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the decline of its smokestack industries.

Russia was the fourth biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in 2009, according to data from the energy firm BP.

Political analyst Maria Lipman at the Carnegie Centre think tank in Moscow said she had seen no sign yet that the heatwave would cause significant political pressure for tougher action on carbon emissions.

"Climate change has never been a big public issue in Russia and there are powerful interests who are against any sharp change in policy," she said.

 
SOURCE : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/environment/global-warming/Green-groups-blame-Russia-drought-on-global-warming-/articleshow/6192449.cms
 


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