Scientist: Estonia Will Be Spared From Climate Change Catastrophes
Marine physicist Tarmo Soomere says many of the feared catastrophic effects of global warming, such as more regular hurricanes, will not directly impact Estonia.
Last week, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, represented by the world's top climate scientists, released a major report concluding that human influence is the main cause of global warming.
Although claiming that the effect of global warming on Estonia would be milder than in other regions, Soomere, a leading researcher at the cybernetics department of Tallinn University of Technology, said there have been signs of climate change in Estonia as well. For one, he said speaking to ETV last week, there has been an increase in the prevalence of non-native wildlife. The winds have also changed direction, he said.
But although Estonia should be spared from the more severe results of climate change, Soomere said Estonia will nevertheless be affected, and in the future will need to be prepared for another challenge: incoming migrants.
"We have much more reason to fear a situation in which a low-lying coast somewhere becomes uninhabitable and people want to escape. We wouldn't escape from that flow. We need to take these consequences into account," said Soomere.