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Politics : The Exxon Free Environmental Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (1523)	11/12/2007 10:34:59 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 48992

Failure to tackle climate peril 'criminally irresponsible', IPCC told by Marlowe Hood Mon Nov 12, 7:03 AM ET VALENCIA, Spain (AFP) - The Nobel-winning panel of world climate experts gathered here Monday to hammer out a key report as a top UN official warned that political failure to fix global warming would be "criminally irresponsible." "The effects of climate change are being felt already," Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said. "Climate change will hit hardest the poorest and most vulnerable countries. Its overall effect, however, will be felt by everyone and will in some cases threaten people's very survival." "Failing to recognize the urgency of this message and acting on it would be nothing less than criminally irresponsible," he said. The Valencia meeting gathers scientists, economists and other experts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which won this year's Nobel Peace Prize alongside climate campaigner and former US president Al Gore. "This meeting of the IPCC represents a watershed," said IPCC head Rajendra Pachauri, adding that more than 2,500 scientists from 130 countries had contributed to its findings. The document to be issued on Saturday distills a 2,500-page, three-volume assessment issued earlier this year -- the first such review since 2001 -- into a 25-page synthesis for policymakers. It aims to provide a compass for governments, legislators and other decision-makers on how to mitigate carbon emissions and adapt to a changing climate. "This will be the report that everyone will turn to time and time again over the next five years to see what the science is telling us," said Hans Verolme, head of WWF's Global Climate Change Programme. A crucial UNFCCC conference in Bali, Indonesia next month will focus world attention on how to tackle global warming. It will touch on politically sensitive solutions ranging from carbon taxes to cap-and-trade schemes for CO2 emissions to major investment in renewable energy. "There are ways to deal with the problem," said de Boer. "Addressing climate change is affordable, and concerted action now can avoid some of the most catastrophic projections." "What is needed is the political will for enhanced multilateral action," he said. Yan Hong, deputy secretary of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), one of the IPCC's two parent bodies, said climate change bore "potential implications for world peace" by intensifying squabbles over water, food and energy. "It could also lead to massive population resettlement, especially to urban areas that may not have capacity to shelter, feed and employ them," he said. By 2100, global average surface temperatures could rise by between 1.1 C (1.98 F) and 6.4 C (11.52 F) compared to 1980-99 levels, the three IPCC reports issued earlier this year predicted. Among the consequences already visible are retreating glaciers and snow loss in alpine regions, thinning Arctic summer sea ice and thawing permafrost. Sea levels will rise by between 18 and 59 centimetres (7.2 and 23.2 inches), the experts say. Heatwaves, flooding, drought, tropical storms and surges in sea level are among the events expected to become more frequent, more widespread and more intense this century. None of these findings is expected to be changed by the Valencia meeting, with the main focus on the language of the policymakers' summary. The more forceful the text, the more pressure will be exerted on governments to take action. Some scientists and environmental groups caution, though, that the IPCC report may already be out of date, as it fails to take into account recent evidence that suggests climate change is accelerating. The December 3-14 Bali meeting of the UNFCCC will seek to set down a roadmap to deepen and accelerate emission cuts when the Kyoto Protocol runs out in 2012. Greenhouse-gas pollution from fossil fuels is now rising so fast, especially from China, the world's No. 2 emitter, that Kyoto will not even dent the problem. siliconinvestor.com