The Washington Post is reporting the United States and China managed to tone down the warnings about global warming in the new report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. U.S. negotiators eliminated language in one section that called for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. The final report warned that human-generated warming is already making oceans more acidic and parched regions even drier. It estimated 20 to 30 percent of the world’s species may disappear if the world keeps warming. The authors of the report also warned that the risk of massive floods will increase significantly along the coasts because of rising seas and more intense storms.

Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the IPCC: “It’s the poorest of the poor in the world, and this includes poor people even in prosperous societies, who are going to be the worst hit and who are the most vulnerable as far as the impact of climate change are concerned. And I think this certainly requires attention, because people who are poor are least equipped to be able to adapt to the impacts of climate change.”

The environmental group Greenpeace praised the new report. This is Greenpeace spokesperson Stephanie Tunmore.

Stephanie Tunmore: “Well, we would hope it affects the discussions at the G8. It’s a very strong report. It paints a really apocalyptic picture of the future if we don’t act very, very quickly, so we would certainly hope that it had an influence on the discussions and decisions at the G8.”