By Erik Kirschbaum

BERLIN, April 24 (Reuters) - Architects in Germany must start adjusting building design to cope with global warming, while winter sports in the nation may gradually disappear, the German weather service warned on Tuesday.

Wolfgang Kusch, president of the state-run DWD, said "climate change has become a fact of life". He said Germany's annual medium temperature had risen 0.9 degrees Celsius to 8.2 C (46 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1901 and may rise another 2C to 5C by 2100.

"We have to do all we can to ensure that the earth does not become uninhabitable," Kusch told a news conference. He said the rise in temperatures accelerated in the last 20 years due to human activity, and not because of climate fluctuation.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has made fighting climate change a priority of Germany's European Union and Group of Eight industrialised nations (G8) presidencies. Germany is the world's sixth largest greenhouse gas emitter.

To fight climate change, the EU announced in March it will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2020.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), set up by the United Nations, released a report this month that said rising temperatures were already changing the face of the globe and could lead to more hunger, water shortages and extinctions.

"Climate change will have a lasting impact on our highly industrialised society and we have to learn to live with the consequences and adjust," said Kusch, whose agency advises the German government. "There will be clear winners and losers."

Kusch said there would be more heatwaves in Germany, more heat-related deaths and a greater risk of infectious disease. Wide sections of Germany face drought, flooding and a gradual disappearance of snow in the winter.

"German cities will become increasingly 'heat islands' and there will be a growing need for fresh air corridors into cities," he said. "Architects must come up with new plans, such as creating more shade and using heat-resistance materials."

The DWD said even though winter sport and resorts would suffer without snow -- Germany led the unofficial medals table at the last three winter Olympics -- there would also be winners from global warming.

"Summer tourism on the North Sea and Baltic Sea could be a winner," said Paul Becker, head of the DWD's climate section. "People won't have to fly to Mallorca for holidays anymore. Towns and cities may save on snow removal costs in the winter.

"Private households will see their heating costs in winter reduced, but the overall negative effect will be far greater for everyone," he added.

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