*NEWS*STARK WARNING OVER CLIMATE CHANGE

[Anonymous]

Stark warning over climate change

The Earth is likely to experience a temperature rise of at least 3C.

Professor Sir David King warned this would happen because world
governments were failing to agree on cutting emissions of greenhouse
gases.

He told the BBC that nations had to act now to tackle the warming expected to happen over the next 100 years.

And he said even if a global agreement could be reached on limiting emissions, climate change was inevitable.

The UK government and the EU want to try to stabilise the climate at an
increase of no more than 2C, but the US refuses to cut emissions and
those of India and China are rising quickly.

A recent report called Avoiding Dangerous Climate
Change, produced by the Hadley Centre, one of the top world centres for
projecting future climate, modelled the likely effects of a 3C rise.

It warned the situation could wreck half the world’s
wildlife reserves, destroy major forest systems, and put 400 million
more people at risk of hunger.

HAVE YOUR SAY I do not think enough countries really see it as a serious issue… yet!! Tom McLaughlan, Western Isles, UK

Professor King told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “We don’t have to
succumb to a state of despondency where we say that there is nothing we
can do so let’s just carry on living as per usual.

“It is very important to understand that we can manage the risks to our population.

“What we are talking about here is something that will play through over decades – we are talking 100 years or so.

“We need to begin that process of investment.”

He said it would be a major challenge for developing countries, in particular.

The Hadley forecasts hinge on stabilising the greenhouse gas carbon
dioxide (CO2) at a level of 550 parts per million in the atmosphere.
Professor King said this was the figure Prime Minister Tony Blair
wanted world leaders to agree on.

He admitted politicians were taking a big risk to push
CO2 levels as high as 550ppm. This figure is almost double the
pre-industrial level of two centuries ago.

But he said the UK government believed 550ppm was the
lowest figure achievable worldwide as developing countries continued to
increase their emissions, and the US refused to cut its CO2.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has
criticised Professor King for accepting global temperatures could rise
above 2C.

And Friends of the Earth director, Tony Juniper, said:
“It is technologically possible to significantly reduce our emissions
and deliver 2C – Professor King should be pressing for government
polices to deliver on this rather than accepting the current lack of
political will and talking of three degrees as an inevitability.”

So far, the US, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has been unwilling to debate a CO2 threshold.

President Bush’s chief climate adviser, James Connaughton, said he did
not believe anyone could forecast a safe level and cutting greenhouse
gas emissions could harm the world economy.

[Author]

April 17, 2006 at 10:05 AM