Unless bold measures are taken, the average global temperature may increase by about 1°C by the year 2025, and by 3°C by the end of the next century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its report, issued in 1990, made a statement to that effect, unequivocally repudiating the optimists who claim the idea of global warming is groundless. Scientists predict that, should global warming continue on its current course, a host of dire consequences await mankind, including devastatingblows to agriculture, forestry and fisheries due to drastic changes in the ecosystem, as well as significant rises in sea levels, more violent typhoons and expansion of infectious diseases among animals. The awareness that we may be making an irreparable error if we don't immediately adopt bold measures is already widely shared by the international community. At present, countries around the world, including Japan, are striving to forge concrete measures to stave off global warming.
展开▼
