'US responsible for 25 per cent of greenhouse gases'

Lucknow, Nov 16 (UNI) The US is responsible for alomst 25 per cent of the total greenhouse gases produced globally, an internationally reputed environment expert today said.

Edward R Cook from Lamont-Doherty Observatory of Columbia University, US said although US was the leading culprit, China would dislodge the United States regarding the emission of the greenhouse gases by 2009.

Dr Cook is here to participate in the three-day International Conference on 'Changing Scenario in Palaeobotany and Allied Subjects' at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, that started yesterday.

''Changes in climate due to greenhouse warming are expected to increasingly impact the Indian subcontinent in future. It is vital to understand the range of natural climate variability in India over the past several centuries to millennia, especially that related to the Southwest Monsoon,'' he averred.

Commenting on global environment, particularly the Asian region, Dr Cook claimed, the prediction about the monsoon would become difficult with time due to abrupt climatic changes for several reasons.

''Global warming leading to melting of glaciers is one of the major factors for the recent change in climate,'' he underlined.

The expert sounded a warning saying the coastal areas and the Sunderban region in Bangladesh and West Bengal were vulnerable to the rise in the sea level.

''If the melting of glaciers continued in the higher reaches of the Himalayas, not only the perennial source of water from snow-capped mountains will exhaust, it will bring a catastrophe in the areas surrounding the sea shore and small islands, as they are in danger of getting permanently marooned,'' Dr Cook told UNI.

Earlier, he delivered a lecture on the topic of 'Climate change from Tree Rings in India: Progress, Prospects and Needs'.

''Climate reconstructions from data pertaining to the annual growth rings of long-lived trees can be used to determine how past climate variability has affected societies and human activities,'' he emphasised.

Over the past years, tremendous progress has been made in the development of long tree-ring chronology for dendroclimatic studies in the Indian Himalayas, the Karakoram of northern Pakistan, and the Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan.

UNI VS BDP HT1645