Report: 'Urgency' marks U.N. climate study

VALENCIA, Spain, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- A new United Nations report on global warming uses language that is "more specific and more forceful" than that of previous reports, The New York Times said.

The report from the United Nations committee on global warming synthesizes three previous documents to give specific warnings, the newspaper reported.

It is a sign of growing urgency on the issue that U.S. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon was to release the report officially Saturday, the newspaper said. Versions of it were published online Friday.

The report predicts a rise in average global temperature of 1 to 3 degrees could bring a dangerous rise in sea level and extinctions of many species.

"This document goes further than any of the previous efforts," Hans Verolme, director of the World Wildlife Fund's Global Climate Change Program, told the Times. "The pressure has been palpable -- people know they are delivering a document that will be cited for years to come and will define policy."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is the last one before a meeting next month in Indonesia to begin negotiations on a new climate change agreement to replace the Kyoto protocol.