Cartagena Island? The Andes mountains naked of glacial snow?
This
is the Colombia a new study released by the World Bank said is possible
in the coming decades if the world does not reverse the actions that
scientists say cause climate change, Caracol Radio reported Monday.
The study by the World Bank painted a pessimistic portrait of a post-global warming Colombia, as a world where the country’s most important environmental and economic resources affected by climate changes.
According to the international organization, current greenhouse gas emissions
are beyond the “worst case scenario,” and if this trend is continued rising temperatures and sea levels, would seriously
affect the country as early as 2030.
“There is a high possibility that in the coming decades the glaciers could no longer
exist,” said Walter Vergara, climate change
specialist at the World Bank.
“The most worrying is the mountain chain, because the Andes are warming faster
than the planet’s average. The consequences would be drought in the wetlands, the glaciers disappear, and destabilization of forest systems. If you change the
water supplies, you are changing the rules because if the wetlands are dry this will have an impact
on agriculture and the hydro system,” Vergara said.
The most dramatic changes would be evident on the Caribbean coast and the Pacific, especially in Cartagena, where rising sea levels would submerge parts of the popular coastal tourist destination, Vergara said.
“We
can not build roads on the seaside, or hotels, because we know that future sea level
will rise. With one meter sea level rise, the coastal road that connects
Cartagena and Barranquilla would be affected. Storm surges will have more impact,” Vergara said.
Changes in sea levels and temperatures would also kill off important coral reef chains in the Caribbean Sea. And on land there would be an increase in tropical diseases like malaria and dengue.
And, there is the threat of the reduction of between 30 and 80 percent of the Amazon rainforest –” leaving the lungs of the world practically turned into a Savannah,” Caracol reported.
“The vulnerability to climate impacts is something that policy makers
should consider in Colombia,” Vergara said.
The study concludes that Latin America must work to adapt to global
warming changes because most of them are irreversible. The region must also promote reducing
greenhouse gases, especially in industrialized countries.
Faced with the World Bank
findings, Minister of Environment and Housing, Juan Lozano, said
Colombia is a “victim” and not one of the provocators of global warming.
“Clearly we are paying the price for a model of development in richer countries
with higher growth, which has generated too many greenhouse
gases that will alter climate cycles throughout the world,” Lozano said. “We suffer from these problems in solidarity with the developed world.”
Currently the World Bank is developing projects in Colombia for mitigation and
adaptation to climate change with an investment of close to $20 million US.
