Posted on 28 September
2009 - Oxford, UK: Climate negotiators received
a hurry up call today as scientists released
new predictions that climate change was
happening significantly faster than previous
estimates.
The UK's prestigious
Met Office Hadley Centre warned that it
was "not implausible" that without
effective action to cut greenhouse gas emissions,
average global temperatures could rise more
than four degrees Celsius over pre-industrial
levels by 2060 - more than twice the two
degree threshold for unacceptable risks
of runaway catastrophic climate change.
WWF-UK Director of Campaigns
David Norman told the UK Press Association
that "Yet again, the over-riding message
from the scientists is abundantly clear
- climate change is real, it's happening
faster than previously anticipated and the
implications for both people and the environment
are potentially severe.
"Politicians have
already pledged to keep the world below
a 2 degree temperature rise, but the window
of opportunity to make this more than an
empty promise is rapidly closing."
"The time for stalling
has long since passed," Norman said.
Climate negotiators
are currently gathering in Bangkok, Thailand,
to continue work towards a new global climate
agreement scheduled to be agreed in Copenhagen
in December, to replace the expiring - and
clearly inadequate - Kyoto protocol.
The new Hadley Centre
study updates the 2007 climate projections
of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), noting that IPCC worst case
projections are now a real possibility within
many peoples' lifetimes.
Worse case predictions
are now a real possibility
Consequences of a four
degree rise in average global temperatures
could include regional variations of temperature
of more than 10 degrees C in some areas,
with rises of more than 15 degrees in the
already seriously affected Arctic.
Drastic reductions in
rainfall are expected for many areas under
such a scenario while other areas will see
increased rainfall and flooding events.
Feedbacks in the climate
system - the study raised possibilities
of warming oceans absorbing less carbon
dioxide and soil carbon being released as
decomposition rates rise - could drive ever
accelerating climate change.
A spokesman for the
Department for Energy and Climate Change
(Decc) told the Press Association that "A
rise of this scale would have serious consequences
for the global community with food security,
water availability and health all being
adversely affected.
"This report illustrates
why it is imperative for the world to reach
an ambitious climate deal at Copenhagen
which keeps the global temperature increase
to below 2 degrees."
