Weather in Europe - Bizarre season of heat, hail and floods
Dr Dan Barlow, director of policy and research at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said yesterday: "It is difficult to link specific events to the effects of climate change, but the Nature report did state that human influence had doubled the risk of extreme weather events like the heatwave the previous year. "It is all the more reason for taking action now to combat global warming instead of waiting for the worst." For some, it already is the worst. Spain and Portugal are suffering their worst droughts since records began in the 1940s, and in western France water levels are at their lowest since the drought of 1976. Yesterday, police in Spain retrieved the bodies of 11 firefighters, trapped by one of the many forest blazes caused by tinder box conditions. Bans and limits on the use of water have been issued across 51 of France's 96 regional departments, while in Italy, a stretch of beach near Genoa was shut after toxic algae, brought on by extreme heat, poisoned dozens of bathers. Wildlife campaigners say the numbers of successful breeding lapwing, redshank and snipe have fallen by up to 80% at five RSPB reserves in Sussex and Kent. At Brading Marshes, on the Isle of Wight, low rainfall has meant redshanks have gone completely while just one pair of lapwing remains.
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