ID :
28270
Tue, 11/04/2008 - 10:14
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/28270
The shortlink copeid
VEGETATION TO DIMINISH DUE TO GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
KOTA KINABALU (Malaysia), Nov 4 (Bernama) -- The quality and quantiy of vegetation around the world is expected to decline in the long run due to climate change, said Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) vice-chancellor Dr Kamaruzaman Ampon.
He said global climate change was one of the major factors affecting the
quality of agricultural produce in developed countries.
"In Germany, wine producers complained that their wines have become sweeter
and sweeter. So, the formerly marginal sites receiving less insolation are
producing the best wines now.
"Unfortunately, developing and under-developed countries in the tropics
will be hit particularly hard and putting their development programmes at risk,"
he said in his speech at the closing of a seminar entitled "Modelling of Climate
Change and its Impact on Vegetation", here Monday.
His speech was read by the dean of UMS School of International Tropical
Forestry, Prof Dr Mahmud Sudin.
Kamaruzaman said global climate change affecting countries in the tropics
like Malaysia was evident with natural phenomena such as floods and droughts
occurring frequently.
"We already witnessed severe fires during prolonged droughts in Sabah.
Almost 12,000 hectares of peat swamp vegetation and crops were burned during the
1998 drought in Klias, Sabah," he added.
Kamaruzaman said the issue of climate change needed to be dealt with soon
and proactively, especially the factors leading to climate change such as human
influence.
He said human influence, particularly in the emission of greenhouse gases
and sulphate aerosol, had consequent effects on global temperatures and sea
levels over time.
"Even if atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations are stabilised over the
next decades, global temperatures are still projected to increase for another
few decades.
"Not only will natural vegetation change, agricultural crops will also
be impacted," he said.
The seminar, jointly organised by UMS, one of Malaysia's public
universities located in East Malaysia state of Sabah, and the German Society for
Technical Cooperation under the auspices of the Malaysia-German Forestry
Education Project, discussed how to address climate change by studying the
impacts on forests and forestry.
Among the outcome of the seminar was the School's intention to extend its
forestry courses from three to four years by July next year, in the hope to
constantly produce professionals to deal with climate change issues affecting
human lives and countries' administration and development programmes.
-- BERNAMA
He said global climate change was one of the major factors affecting the
quality of agricultural produce in developed countries.
"In Germany, wine producers complained that their wines have become sweeter
and sweeter. So, the formerly marginal sites receiving less insolation are
producing the best wines now.
"Unfortunately, developing and under-developed countries in the tropics
will be hit particularly hard and putting their development programmes at risk,"
he said in his speech at the closing of a seminar entitled "Modelling of Climate
Change and its Impact on Vegetation", here Monday.
His speech was read by the dean of UMS School of International Tropical
Forestry, Prof Dr Mahmud Sudin.
Kamaruzaman said global climate change affecting countries in the tropics
like Malaysia was evident with natural phenomena such as floods and droughts
occurring frequently.
"We already witnessed severe fires during prolonged droughts in Sabah.
Almost 12,000 hectares of peat swamp vegetation and crops were burned during the
1998 drought in Klias, Sabah," he added.
Kamaruzaman said the issue of climate change needed to be dealt with soon
and proactively, especially the factors leading to climate change such as human
influence.
He said human influence, particularly in the emission of greenhouse gases
and sulphate aerosol, had consequent effects on global temperatures and sea
levels over time.
"Even if atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations are stabilised over the
next decades, global temperatures are still projected to increase for another
few decades.
"Not only will natural vegetation change, agricultural crops will also
be impacted," he said.
The seminar, jointly organised by UMS, one of Malaysia's public
universities located in East Malaysia state of Sabah, and the German Society for
Technical Cooperation under the auspices of the Malaysia-German Forestry
Education Project, discussed how to address climate change by studying the
impacts on forests and forestry.
Among the outcome of the seminar was the School's intention to extend its
forestry courses from three to four years by July next year, in the hope to
constantly produce professionals to deal with climate change issues affecting
human lives and countries' administration and development programmes.
-- BERNAMA
