JOHANNESBURG, May 17 (Xinhuanet) -- "In 30 to 40 years' time, climate change will be as great as other stresses such as malaria," said Davi King, the British government's chief scientific adviser, who was in South Africa to promote the Zero Carbon City program, a campaign organized by the British Council to raise awareness on global warming.

    Due to increase in carbon dioxide, the ice cap on Mount Kilimanjaro was unlikely to last another 15 years, he said.

    Citing a research by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, King said8,000 sq. km of China's ice had already melted, according to localnewspaper Business Day.

    South Africa's Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said earlier this month that global warming would cause expansion of malaria regions, destroy thousands of plant species and reduce bird and mammal populations,negatively affecting eco-tourism and wildlife-based tourism.

    The country still relies on fossil fuel, especially coal, whichleads to significant carbon dioxide emissions.

    The increase in carbon dioxide would lead to significant changes in weather patterns, such as lower rainfall and desertification.

    "Scientists are no longer discussing whether global warming is going to happen, but are looking at its impact and how we can reduce our carbon dioxide levels and lessen our dependence on fossil fuels," King said.

    He said global warming would be on the agenda at the meeting ofthe Group of Eight advanced industrial countries at Gleneagles, Scotland, in July this year, to which developing countries including South Africa, China, Mexico and India have been invited. Enditem