Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
The heat goes on
The 2500 experts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change delivered their latest verdict in Brussels on Saturday.
Disagreement over the report's summary saw the final session continue through the night until the more than 100 nations involved could agree on the exact wording.
The report, the panel's second this year, paints the bleakest official picture yet of the likely implications of climate change for the world - and in particular its poorest people.
Some slim benefits are predicted for richer countries such as north America and northern Europe with longer crop-growing seasons, but countries that are already hot are predicted to suffer greatly.
Diseases borne by mosquitoes, such as malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever, will extend their range, overburdening already stretched health services in poor parts of the world, the report says.
The southern coastal states of the United States will be at much greater risk of hurricanes and tropical storms, but the greatest threat is to densely populated communities in lower-lying, coastal regions of Asia and throughout Africa.
The British government says the latest findings show up climate change as a threat to world peace and security.
The report warns that more than a billion people will be at greater risk than ever as extreme droughts bring crop and economic failures. It says a rise of 1.5 degrees above 1990 levels would put about a third of the Earth's species at risk of extinction, and no region is likely to escape the consequences of rising temperatures. It says Australia must plan for damage to buildings, transport systems and energy infrastructure.
The scientists predict a massive increase in exposure to the dengue fever virus, and that heat-related deaths will increase sixfold there by the year 2050.
Even the famed Great Barrier Reef is threatened. The implications for small and vulnerable South Pacific nations are severe.
Scary stuff - and predictably the report has been rubbished by the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition, which describes it as "virtual science".
Scepticism over established thinking is always healthy. However, virtually all of the world's governments endorse the new United Nations report summary, many top climate scientists are now inside the global warming tent and there is evidence of climate change all around us.
So firmly has the tide of scientific, political and public opinion gathered behind the position that global warming is real and has a significant man-made component that coalition members risk being seen as flat-earthers.
With even US President George W Bush acknowledging climate change for the first time this year, it no longer can be dismissed as a fanciful notion of green alarmists or political campaigning by US Democrat Al Gore.
However, it is disturbing to hear that political pressure from the likes of China and the US forced a toning down of the report's so-called "summary for policy-makers" that most news reports are based on. If so, this seems to be typical UN dithering - more about politics than science - and raises questions about the panel's credibility.
The report also brings new focus to Prime Minister Helen Clark's position on climate change. Rather than "leading the world" towards carbon neutrality, New Zealand is likely to be exposed as dragging its feet when details for this country are released. Political obfuscation on such a critical issue makes it difficult to distinguish the carbon clouds from mere steam.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/nelsonmail/4020612a6508.html
Yet another stark warning of the consequences of global warming has been issued by a panel of climate scientists and researchers, says the Nelson Mail in an editorial.
Yet another stark warning of the consequences of global warming has been issued by a panel of climate scientists and researchers, says the Nelson Mail in an editorial.
The 2500 experts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change delivered their latest verdict in Brussels on Saturday.
Disagreement over the report's summary saw the final session continue through the night until the more than 100 nations involved could agree on the exact wording.
The report, the panel's second this year, paints the bleakest official picture yet of the likely implications of climate change for the world - and in particular its poorest people.
Some slim benefits are predicted for richer countries such as north America and northern Europe with longer crop-growing seasons, but countries that are already hot are predicted to suffer greatly.
Diseases borne by mosquitoes, such as malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever, will extend their range, overburdening already stretched health services in poor parts of the world, the report says.
The southern coastal states of the United States will be at much greater risk of hurricanes and tropical storms, but the greatest threat is to densely populated communities in lower-lying, coastal regions of Asia and throughout Africa.
The British government says the latest findings show up climate change as a threat to world peace and security.
The report warns that more than a billion people will be at greater risk than ever as extreme droughts bring crop and economic failures. It says a rise of 1.5 degrees above 1990 levels would put about a third of the Earth's species at risk of extinction, and no region is likely to escape the consequences of rising temperatures. It says Australia must plan for damage to buildings, transport systems and energy infrastructure.
The scientists predict a massive increase in exposure to the dengue fever virus, and that heat-related deaths will increase sixfold there by the year 2050.
Even the famed Great Barrier Reef is threatened. The implications for small and vulnerable South Pacific nations are severe.
Scary stuff - and predictably the report has been rubbished by the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition, which describes it as "virtual science".
Scepticism over established thinking is always healthy. However, virtually all of the world's governments endorse the new United Nations report summary, many top climate scientists are now inside the global warming tent and there is evidence of climate change all around us.
So firmly has the tide of scientific, political and public opinion gathered behind the position that global warming is real and has a significant man-made component that coalition members risk being seen as flat-earthers.
With even US President George W Bush acknowledging climate change for the first time this year, it no longer can be dismissed as a fanciful notion of green alarmists or political campaigning by US Democrat Al Gore.
However, it is disturbing to hear that political pressure from the likes of China and the US forced a toning down of the report's so-called "summary for policy-makers" that most news reports are based on. If so, this seems to be typical UN dithering - more about politics than science - and raises questions about the panel's credibility.
The report also brings new focus to Prime Minister Helen Clark's position on climate change. Rather than "leading the world" towards carbon neutrality, New Zealand is likely to be exposed as dragging its feet when details for this country are released. Political obfuscation on such a critical issue makes it difficult to distinguish the carbon clouds from mere steam.