FACTBOX: Impacts for small island states of climate change

(Reuters) - Following are impacts of global warming for small island states outlined in a draft U.N. climate report due to be released in Brussels on April 6.

The draft, to be discussed by scientists and government experts in the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change meeting from Monday, is looking at the regional effects of warming:

SMALL ISLAND STATES

-- "Sea level rise and increased sea water temperature are projected to accelerate beach erosion, and cause degradation of natural coastal defenses such as mangroves and coral reefs."

-- That could curb tourism. Studies in some islands indicate that up to 80 percent of tourists would be unwilling to return for the same price if corals and beaches were damaged.

-- Ports, as well as roads and international airports which are also often by the coast, are likely to be at risk from rising seas.

-- Reductions in rainfall would have a big impact in cutting the size of underground freshwater stocks in islands such as Tarawa Atoll, Kiribati. Some small islands states are investing in desalination to offset projected water shortages.

-- Rising temperatures and decreasing water availability is likely to increase diarrhea and other infectious diseases in some small island states.

-- Without measures to adapt to change, agriculture economic losses are likely to reach between 2 and 18 percent of 2002 gross domestic product by 2050 for both higher islands such as Fiji and low-lying islands such as Kiribati.

-- New microbes, fungi, plants and animals are already causing changes to wildlife on sub-Antarctic islands.

-- Costs of adapting to change may be high, and options limited.