The Mediterranean is warming fast, deserts may spread in Europe, study finds

Global warming is on track to disrupt the Mediterranean region more than any droughts or heatwaves in the past 10,000 years, turning parts of southern Europe into desert by the end of the century, scientists said today. Average temperatures in the region have already risen by 1.3 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century, well above the world average of 0.85C, according to the study led by France's Aix-Marseille University. Man-made climate change "will likely alter ecosystems in the Mediterranean in a way that is without precedent" in the past 10,000 years unless governments quickly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the researchers wrote in the journal Science. With unchecked warming, deserts would expand in southern Spain and Portugal, northern parts of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and other regions including Sicily, southern Turkey and parts of Syria, it showed. And it would dramatically shift vegetation in the region, famed for umbrella pines, olive groves, and holm oaks. Last year, almost 200 governments agreed in Paris to limit the rise in average world surface temperatures to "well below" 2C above pre-industrial times, ideally 1.5C. Governments will meet in Morocco next...