Climate change will hit the Med hard, says new report

PALMA
THE Balearic economy is under threat from climate change as global warming creates turmoil for the region's demands for energy, agriculture, water availability and tourism.

That's the verdict of a new report drawn up by the European Environment Agency, the European Commission Joint Research Centre and the World Health Organisation.

It forecasts the economies of southern Europe and the Mediterranean, including the Balearics, are liable to suffer the most adverse effects of climate change.

The report also warns of deaths from intense and more frequent heatwaves, lower crop yields and areas of fertile land turning into desert.
Climate change, according to the report, will also increase the risk of mosquito-spread diseases as global warming extends the habitats of the insects.

The severity of natural disasters, such as heatwaves and flooding, is expected to increase steadily with the most noticeable changes set to occur in the second half of this century.