The U.N. climate panel issued its toughest warning yet on Friday that human activities are to blame for global warming and projected a damaging, accelerating rise in temperatures in the 21st century, putting extra pressure on governments to do more to combat accelerating global warming. (File Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    BEIJING, Feb. 2(Xinhuanet) -- The U.N. climate panel issued its toughest warning yet on Friday that human activities are to blame for global warming and projected a damaging, accelerating rise in temperatures in the 21st century, putting extra pressure on governments to do more to combat accelerating global warming.

    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the most authoritative group on warming which groups 2,500 scientists from more than 130 nations, predicted more severe rains, melting glaciers, droughts and heatwaves and a slow rise in sea levels.

    The final text of the report said it was "very likely" -- meaning a probability of more than 90 percent -- that human activities led by burning fossil fuels explained most of the warming in the past 50 years.

    That is an increased level of confidence from the last IPCC report, in 2001, when the panel said the link was "likely," or at least 66 percent probable. 

    The talks among government representatives and IPCC scientists, meeting in Paris since Monday, ended after midnight after a wrangle over rising ocean levels. IPCC leaders will formally unveil the results of six years' work in Paris.

    A 20-page summary for policy makers outlines threats such as a melting of Arctic sea ice in summers by 2100 and a slowing of the Gulf Stream.

    U.N. officials hope the report will prompt governments and companies to do more to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, released mainly by burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars.

    The report also predicted a "best estimate" that temperatures would rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 Celsius (3.2 and 7.8 Fahrenheit) in the 21st century with a likely range from 1.1 to 6.4 Celsius.

    "The IPCC's latest report provides the most conclusive evidence to date that human activities are causing dangerous climate change," said Camilla Toulmin, head of the International Institute for Environment and Development, a London-based research group.

    (Agencies)

Related:

UN panel report blames human activities for global warming

    PARIS, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Human activities are heating the earth which would bring more disasters to human beings, warned a report of the United Nations climate panel on Friday. It was very "likely" or a probability of more than 90 percent that human activities led by burning fossil fuels had facilitated the warming in the past half century, said the final text of the report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), world's most authoritative group on the study of global warming.

Report: For sure, humans cause global warming!

    BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- A climate report to be released next month will say an "explosion of new data." It will reveal evidence that human-caused global warming is visible in the air, water and melting ice and is destined to get much worse in the future.

Warming oceans make it tough for fish to breath

    BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Recently completed research reveals warmer oceans caused by global warming is making it more difficult for eelpouts to breath and survive. Biologists have known for years declining fish stocks are connected to global warming, but a new study of eelpouts -- big-headed fish that resemble eels -- is the first to go deeper and see how warmer seas are connected to how fishes take in oxygen.

UK scientists: 2007 might be warmest year on record

    BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- British climate scientists predict that 2007 might be the world's hottest year on record because of a resurgent E1 Nino climate trend combined with higher levels of greenhouse gases. "Even a moderate (El Nino) warming event is enough to push the global temperatures over the top," said Phil Jones, director of the Climatic Research unit at the University of East Anglia Thursday.

Global warming advocates target Exxon Mobil. Corp.

    BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- A report by the Union of Concerned Scientists on Wednesday claims Exxon Mobil Corp. gave 16 million U.S. dollars between 1998 and 2005 to ideological groups to promote its view that the science behind global warming is faulty.

U.S. gov't proposes listing polar bears as threatened

BEIJING, Dec. 28(Xinhuanet) -- The United States proposed Wednesday to list polar bears as "threatened" on government list of imperilled species, marking the first time the Bush administration has singled out climate change as the potential driving force behind the demise of a species.