WASHINGTON, Fri Jul 31, (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - The United States must prepare for unstoppable climate changes that will have a major impact on farming, industry, recreation and government services, Obama administration officials said on Thursday. "As much as we can try to avoid (it), there will undoubtedly be changes in our climate that will have devastating impacts, very significant impacts, on all sectors from recreation to industry and business to agriculture" and government, US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said. A new National Climate Service charged with making detailed national and regional climate forecasts is "badly needed" to help individuals, companies and all levels of government to make plans, Locke told the Senate Commerce Committee. "We need to understand what's coming down the road," Locke said. "So many people are going to be dependent on this information for investment decisions." Even if Congress passes legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming, the amount of gases already in the air are enough to keep the planet warming for decades, John Holdren, director of the White House office on Science and Technology Policy, told the panel. Fossil fuels such as oil and coal are the main source of the heat-trapping gases. "It's not enough to focus on mitigation," Holdren said, referring to efforts to curb emissions. "We have to be ready on the adaptation side for whatever comes." That means boosting research in drought and heat-resistant crops, making plans for rising sea levels in coastal areas and taking steps to increase resistance to tropical diseases that are likely to become more prevalent. "We're already finding climate change becoming more abrupt than we expected even a few years ago ... It could become even more abrupt. Nobody knows for sure," Holdren said. The House of Representatives in June passed a comprehensive energy bill to cut US greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050, compared to 2005 levels. Prospects for action in the Senate this year are unclear as lawmakers grapple with another major piece of legislation to reform the US health care system. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller said he believed Congress would eventually pass a climate change bill, despite tough political obstacles. He called it "probably the most important piece of legislation ... we will ever do."