Warming 'Likely' Man-Made, Unstoppable

FILE - Dominique Voynet of the Green Party takes part to a television debate in Paris in this June 1, 2004 file photo. With environmental issues commanding unprecedented attention in France's presidential campaign, and an increasing sense of worldwide urgency over climate change, contenders from across the political spectrum are scrambling to beef up their ecological credentials ahead of the April-May vote. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon) (Jacques Brinon - AP)

But this is more than just a U.S. issue.

"What you're trying to do is get the whole planet under the proverbial tent in how to deal with this, not just the rich countries," Mahlman said Thursday. "I think we're in a different kind of game now."

The panel, created by the United Nations in 1988, releases its assessments every five or six years _ although scientists have been observing aspects of climate change since as far back as the 1960s. The reports are released in phases _ this is the first of four this year.

The next report is due in April and will discuss the effects of global warming. But that issue was touched upon in the current document.

The report says that global warming has made stronger hurricanes, including those on the Atlantic Ocean, such as Hurricane Katrina.

The report said that an increase in hurricane and tropical cyclone strength since 1970 "more likely than not" can be attributed to man-made global warming. The scientists said global warming's connection varies with storms in different parts of the world, but that the storms that strike the Americas are global warming-influenced.

That's a contrast from the 2001 which said there was not enough evidence to make such a conclusion. And it conflicts with a November 2006 statement by the World Meteorological Organization, which helped found the IPCC. The meteorological group said it could not link past stronger storms to global warming.

Fields _ of Barbados, a country in the path of many hurricanes _ said the new wording was "very important." He noted that insurance companies _ which look to science to calculate storm risk _ "watch the language, too."

___

Associated Press Writer Angela Charlton contributed to this report.