U.N. Talks to Weigh Global Warming Peril

GENEVA —  A U.N. conference on global warming opened today, and a top U.N. official warned that only radical changes can save the world from a climate disaster.

Mostafa K. Tolba, the head of the U.N. Environment Program, said the threat of global warming is “potentially more catastrophic than any other threat in human history.”

Such warming could trigger famine by disrupting agriculture, and coastal areas could be flooded if sea levels are raised by melting of glaciers and the Greenland ice sheet.

Scientists believe that about half of global warming is caused by carbon dioxide gas from fossil fuel burning. Other “greenhouse gases” are methane, nitrous oxide and chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs.

The gases increase the atmosphere’s tendency to trap heat, like a greenhouse.

“Nothing short of action which affects every individual can forestall global catastrophe,” Tolba said. “Nothing less than a complete change in attitudes and lifestyles will succeed.”

The gathering brought together about 500 scientists from around the world, who are to chart a comprehensive new program with proposals on how to counter global warming.

The conference will wind up with a two-day meeting of about 80 government ministers. Several heads of government, including Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and French Prime Minister Michel Rocard, are to attend.

The United States, still opposed to mandatory restrictions on emissions of the chemicals involved, is represented by a lower-ranking official, John Knauss, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.