5th session of the Conference to Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification - address by Sálvano Briceño, Director, UNISDR

Recent findings of the second working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicate that changes in climate will adversely affect many regions, in particular countries in tropical and sub-tropical latitudes. These changes in temperature and related local rainfall variations affect on the one hand the environment, through accelerated desertification and degradation, and on the other hand socio-economic factors, such as water resources, human health, agriculture, fisheries.