Grim warning on climate change
Posted in Ecological Collapse, Political on 02/02/2007 07:02 am by adminThe current climate change as a result of human activities and greenhouse gas emissions poses a more serious threat to life on Earth than previously expected, said top Chinese and global climate scientists in a statement in Paris on Friday.
The UN climate panel issued its strongest warning yet on Friday that human activities are heating the planet, putting extra pressure on governments to do more. – Reuters
A summary of their findings:
* Probable temperature rise between 1.8C and 4C
* Possible temperature rise between 1.1C and 6.4C
* Sea level most likely to rise by 28-43cm
* Arctic summer sea ice disappears in second half of century
* Increase in heatwaves very likely
* Increase in tropical storm intensity likely
The United Nations panel, which groups 2,500 scientists from more than 130 nations, predicted more droughts, heatwaves, rainstorms and a rise in sea levels that could last for more than 1,000 years.
That is a toughening from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) last report in 2001, which judged a link as “likely,”
or 66 percent probable.
The United Nations panel, which groups 2,500 scientists from more than 130 nations, predicted more droughts, heatwaves and a slow gain in sea
levels that could last for more than 1,000 years even if greenhouse gas emissions were capped.
The panel’s report predicts a “best estimate” that temperatures would rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 Celsius (3.2 and 7.8 Fahrenheit) in the
21st century.
“Faced with this emergency, now is not the time for half measures. It is the time for a revolution, in the true sense of the term,” French
President Jacques Chirac said. “We are in truth on the historical doorstep of the irreversible.”
The scientists said it was “very likely” — or more than 90 percent probable — that human activities led by burning fossil fuels
explained most of the warming in the past 50 years.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) at http://www.ipcc.ch/ . They have summary PDF reports available from their home page.