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- Hurricane Georges, one of the most powerful
storms on record, brought widespread destruction to the Caribbean. Record
high temperatures in 1998 may have helped power the most damaging and costly
storms ever recorded, the Worldwatch Institute reported Saturday as the
institute released its annual report of environmental trends.
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- "This past year was an off-the-chart
year. In 1998, the Earth's average temperature literally went off the top
of the chart we have been using for years in Vital Signs," said Worldwatch
President Lester Brown, co-author of Vital Signs 1999: The Environmental
Trends That Are Shaping Our Future.
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- This record-high temperature, leading
to more evaporation and rainfall and powering more destructive storms,
may have helped push other indicators off the chart as well. For example,
weather-related damage worldwide totaled $92 billion in 1998, up 53 percent
from the previous record of $60 billion in 1996.
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- According to the study, record storms
and floods drove 300 million or more people from their homes in 1998. Many
of those forced from their homes lived in China's Yangtze River valley
in Bangladesh and in eastern India. Smaller numbers living in the Caribbean
and Central America were driven from their homes by two of the most powerful
hurricanes ever to have come out of the Atlantic: Georges and Mitch.
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- Climate simulation models suggest that
the events of 1998 could be a window on the future, a consequence of failing
to curb emissions of carbon dioxide, the study reports.
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- While the rise in the Earth's temperature
was accelerating, the growth of the global economy was decelerating. Economic
turmoil in East Asia, Russia and Brazil slowed economic growth from 4.2
percent in 1997 to 2.2 percent in 1998, the slowest in seven years. Closely
associated with the economic turmoil was a four percent drop in international
trade in 1998, the first decline in 15 years.
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- "The increase in armed conflict
was another source of turmoil in 1998," said co-author Michael Renner.
After five annual declines, the number of wars in the world climbed from
25 to 31 in 1998. Nearly all were internal or civil wars in the developing
world, except for Serbia's Kosovo province.
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- Other highlights include: * The world
energy economy is shifting from a historic heavy reliance on oil and coal
to renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines and solar cells. *
World grain prices in late 1998 dropped to the lowest level in two decades.
* Aquacultural output, growing at nearly 12 percent a year during the
'90s, is emerging as a major new source of animal protein in the world
food economy. * Over the last year, the number of phones and the number
of Internet connections increased dramatically, integrating more and more
people into the global electronic network. 147 million people now have
Internet access. * New HIV infections in 1998 totaled nearly 6 million
and deaths from the virus totaled 2.5 million. * World population increased
by 78 million in 1998, roughly the equivalent of another Germany.
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