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Sun 4 Feb 2007 12:09 PM ET By Maria Pia Palermo
RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 4 (Reuters) - To avert the catastrophic effects of continued global warming, such as desertification of the Amazon rainforest, all countries both rich and poor must do a part, Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva said.
The United Nation's panel on climate change released its latest report on Friday strengthening its view that rising temperatures on Earth in the past 50 years are very likely, or 90 percent probable, the result of humans.
With the rise in average global temperatures come rising sea levels, more devastating hurricanes and flooding as well as the expansion of deserts and droughts, the report said.
Brazil's Amazon forest, the largest rainforest that has been called the lungs of the world, could face more and stronger droughts, which has in the past coincided with higher rates of deforestation.
"Humanity should make every effort to prevent this, not only in the Amazon forest but in all of the planet's forests that are threatened," Silva, the daughter of former rubber tappers, told Reuters in a telephone interview on Friday night.
Forty-six nations called for the creation of a more powerful U.N. environment agency on Saturday, saying the survival of humanity was at risk, but the United States, China and Russia did not sign up.
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