PARIS, Aug 18 (AFP) - Europe is being increasingly hit by weather extremes, rising sea levels and ever-higher greenhouse gas emissions, according to an EU environmental agency Wednesday which said global warming is happening faster here than anywhere else.
While northern Europe is set for wetter weather, drier conditions in the south could threaten agriculture in some areas, the European Environment Agency (EEA) warned, outlining both the human and economic costs.
The elderly and frail face the "lethal threat" of more frequent and more intense heatwaves such as last summer's, and the report has a stark warning for Europe's glaciers stating that three-quarters of those in the Swiss Alps are likely to disappear by 2050.
And it also warned of "rising sea levels for centuries to come".
These kinds of conditions, the impact of global climate change, are already being seen in Europe, or are projected to happen over the coming decades as temperatures rise, the EEA said urging Europe to draw up strategies to limit the effects.
"The concentration of CO2, the main greenhouse gas, in the lower atmosphere is now at its highest for at least 420,000 years, possibly even 20 million years, and stands 34 percent above its level before the Industrial Revolution," the report said.
It also warns that Europe will heat up by 2100 faster than the rest of the world.
"Europe is warming faster than the global average," it said.
"The temperature in Europe has risen by an average of 0.95 degrees Celsius in the last hundred years and is projected to climb by a further 2.0-6.3 degrees Celsius this century as emissions of greenhouse gases continue building up."
The finding contradicts forecasts by United Nations experts three years ago who predicted the thermometre to rise by between 0.1 and 0.4 degrees Celsius every 10 years in Europe.
Europe has seen severe and highly destructive weather conditions in the last couple of years. In August 2002, serious flooding in 11 countries killed about 80 people and caused economic losses of at least 15 billion euros (18.5 billion dollars).
Last summer, a heatwave in western and southern Europe recorded more than 20,000 excess deaths, particularly among elderly people.
Jacqueline McGlade, the EEA's executive director, said the report showed evidence that climate change was already happening and having widespread impact on people and ecosystems across Europe.
"Europe has to continue to lead worldwide efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but this report also underlines that strategies are needed at European, regional, national and local level, to adapt to climate change," she said in a written statement.
Other current or future impacts of climate change in Europe highlighted in the report include a projected rise in sea levels of two to four times higher this century than the 0.8 to 3.0 millimetres per year in the last century.
By 2080, cold winters could disappear almost entirely, while hot summers, droughts and heavy rain or hail could be much more frequent.
Climate change over the past three decades has also sparked decreases in populations of plant species in some parts of Europe and is likely to increase the frequency of flooding, especially flash floods.
Economic losses from floods, storms, droughts and heatwaves have more than doubled over the past 20 years to about 11 billion dollars annually, the report noted.
The 1990s were the warmest decade on record and the three hottest years recorded -- 1998, 2002 and 2003 -- occurred in the last six years.
The EEA is an EU body and currently has 31 member countries.