Storm and drought: what Europe has to fear from climate change

Deserts in Spain, snowless ski resorts in Italy, deforestation in Germany - and seas that keep on rising

For most Europeans, the climate change threat is elsewhere: the rising sea levels in south Asia; crop failures in Africa; mightier storms in the tropics, drought in the developing world.

But as Franiois Hollande prepares to host a crucial UN climate summit at the end of this month, his fellow Europeans are already facing subtle harbingers of global warming. Seas, mountains, forests, plains, towns and cities - the risks within Europe itself are many, varied and increasingly difficult to ignore.