"The temperature in Italy has risen four times more than the rest of the world, and the rains have diminished five percent over the last century, as bouts of dryness have multiplied," Environment Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio said.

He told attendees these estimates are based on an October 2006 report by Sir Nicholas Stern, former head economist for the World Bank. Stern evaluated damage due to changing weather conditions at more than 5,500 billion euros.

An official report published a day before the meeting also sounded the alarm on the rise in global water temperatures, which has started to change the equilibrium of the Mediterranean Sea and threaten animal and plant life.

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