(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-17 10:31

Heatwaves, rainstorms, drought, tropical cyclones and surges in sea level are among the events expected to become more frequent, more widespread and/or more intense this century.

As a result, water shortages, hunger, flooding and damage to homes will be a heightened threat.

"All countries" will be affected, according to the IPCC. Those bearing the brunt, though, will be poor countries which incidentally bear the least responsibility for creating the problem.

Green groups applauded the provisional report, saying it hiked pressure on world leaders to curb greenhouse gases.

"The result appears to be much better than we had expected going into the meeting," said Stephanie Tunmore of Greenpeace, which along with the WWF is an official observer at IPCC meetings.

"It could be a groundbreaking document to pave the way for deep emissions cuts by developed countries," said WWF's Stephan Singer.

Belgian IPCC delegate Jean-Pascal van Ypersele said his concerns that the synthesis would only be a "cut-and-paste" rather than a coherent summary proved unfounded.

He pointed to a draft section on "key vulnerabilities" that distilled the main reasons for concern about global warming.

Despite sharp challenges, especially from the US, the text remained intact, making "the problems more prominent," he said.

The IPCC won this year's Nobel Peace Prize alongside climate campaigner and former US vice president Al Gore.

The December 3-14 conference in Bali aims at deepening and accelerating cuts in greenhouse-gas pollution after 2012, when current pledges under the UN's Kyoto Protocol expire.

There is now broad agreement on the amplifying scale of the problem, but countries remain sharply divided on how to tackle it, fearing economic costs and loss of competitive advantage.

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