UN: Past decade may be warmest on record

At the second day of the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, the U.N. weather agency predicted this decade will very likely be the warmest on record. It also says 2009 will probably end up as one of the warmest of the past 10 years.

The first decade of the 21st century is set to be the warmest on  record, the head of the World Meteorological Organisation has said at the UN climate talks.(AFP/File/Str)

In some regions, including parts of Africa and central Asia, this will probably be the year with the highest temperatures. However, the global projection is for 2009 to be about the fifth-warmest year on record.

The data was released as negotiators at the two-week Copenhagen summit work to craft a global deal to stem climate change.

Michel Jarraud, Secretary-general of World Meteorological Organization, said, "The decade 2000-2009 is very likely to be the warmest on record. So, in other words, this decade is going to be warmer than the 1990s, which itself were warmer than the 1980s and so on. So it is likely to be the warmest on record."