World Bank: Caspian level to drop by 6 meters

The World Bank experts estimated that poor protection of environment and groundless large infrastructure outside the European Union could lead to the dangerous results and even smallest climate changes could have negative impact on those countries.
Marianne Fay, Director of the World Bank’s World Development Report 2010, and author of the new report “Adapting to Climate Change in Europe and Central Asia”, said there already were real results of climate change in Europe and Central Asia. Average temperatures across ECA have already increased by 0.5ºC in the south to 1.6ºC in the north (Siberia) since the early 1900s and overall increases of 1.6 to 2.6ºC above are expected by the middle of the century, with the greater changes occurring in the more northern latitudes. The north is projected to see greater temperature changes in winter, with the number of frost days declining by 14 to 30 days over the next 20 to 40 years. Southern parts of the region are expected to see the greatest changes in the summer, with the number of hot days increasing by 22 to 37 days over the same period, said the expert.
The Baltic Sea, the East Adriatic, the Black Sea and Arctic coasts will be affected by sea-level rise. In the Caspian Sea, though, water levels could drop by roughly six meters by the end of the 21st century because of increased evaporation.

/APA/