Global warming may cause large-scale flooding after 2100, leading to water shortages and the spread of infectious diseases, according to the draft of a report to be issued next year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
If allowed to continue increasing after 2100, greenhouse gases may cause irreversible environmental changes, entailing heavier rainstorms, larger floods, serious droughts and crippled circulation of ocean water on a global scale, says the draft, obtained by Kyodo News last week.
The draft, drawn up by one of three working groups under IPCC, says recent mathematical modeling estimates that between 260 million and 320 million more people stand to be infected with malaria around 2080 in climate scenarios that average 3 degrees of warming by that time period.