Spain and Portugal will be influenced by climate change.
Scientists said that even a moderate temperature increase within 2 degrees Celsius can lead to disaster for some countries of the Mediterranean.
The researchers ‘ findings were published in the journal Science.
In the course of the study, the researchers used pollen preserved in sedimentary rocks for 10 thousand years and became a “plant record” for this period, reflecting all the changes of climate. This allowed you to create a model reflecting the state of the region depending on the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and thus the average global temperature. The results of the calculations of this model were quite frightening.
With the current increase in temperature (about 1° Celsius above pre-industrial values), the Mediterranean suffers from too warming. However, two degrees, indicated as the limit in the Paris agreements, can be for the region to be a disaster. According to the calculations of authors, this warming can cause prolonged droughts and radically alter the wooded landscape of southern Spain and Portugal, turning it into a vast desert.
The researchers emphasize that for 10 thousand years such changes in this region did not have the influence of temperature changes on humans and local ecosystems will be significant.
