COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Extreme weather events caused by climate change are threatening hundreds of millions of people living in the Himalayan region, the United Nations said.
Droughts and catastrophic floods are destroying crops, depleting water supplies and killing livestock throughout the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region, said the report released Friday.
Researchers spread throughout China, Pakistan, India and Nepal to collect data for the report, released at the start of the summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, called to negotiate a new global climate treaty.
The report is proof some societies already are enduring climate change, U.N. spokesman Achim Steiner said.
"Adaptation here is not just a necessity but a question of local communities' very survival," Steiner said, calling on governments to do more than boost strategies for disaster management.
