March 19, 2007 A moderate rise in global temperature could put 20 to 30 percent of species at risk of extinction and endanger billions of people worldwide with food and water shortages, a draft U.N. report warns.

According to Reuters, the draft report, which will be released April 6 in Brussels, outlines the major impacts expected from global climate change, such as rising sea levels, that could inundate low-lying Pacific islands and changes in the environment that could drastically alter biological diversity.

The report also states that the most severe consequences of global warming, such as water shortages and species extinction, can be mitigated through cuts in greenhouse gases, Reuters reported. The draft report, which is based on the work of the world’s top climate scientists, outlines scenarios of temperature increases of 1.1 to 6.4 Celsius in 2100, as compared to 1990 levels. The draft will undergo a final review before its release in Belgium.

The draft highlighted potential threats such as severe heat waves in North America, disappearing ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, species extinction in the Amazon, and melting glaciers in Asia that could affect billions of people.

A scenario detailed in the report of a rise of three degrees Celsius could mean water shortages for 1.1 to 3.2 billion people, according to Reuters.

Poorer nations are likely to be hardest hit by the climate changes, the draft warns.

The draft report from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) follows on the heels of a previously released study from IPCC that found human activities were almost certainly exacerbating global warming. The reports are the first two studies of a total of four being released this year from the IPCC. The reports are designed to advise governments on how to react to global climate change.

One of the drafts main warnings about environmental changes appears to have been backed by a group of international marine scientists surveying the undersea changes caused by the collapse of ice shelves in Antarctica.

According to the German news service DPA, 52 scientists aboard the ice breaker Polarstern recently discovered a number of exotic species to an area that was covered by the ice shelves Larson A and B, such as sea squirts and glass sponges. The massive ice shelves broke up 12 and five years ago, respectively, due to temperature changes.

Scientists observed other exotic species in the area including minke whales and a rare beaked whale. But at the same time new species are inhabiting the area, planktonic algae that grew beneath the ice is decreasing, according to DPA. The algae serves as food for krill, a important link in the Antarctic food chain.

The change in the Antarctic environment seems to echo the warnings of the U.N. draft report, which said, “many natural systems, on all continents and in some oceans, are being affected by regional climate changes, particularly temperature increases,” according to the copy viewed by Reuters.

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