Climate change report - World cannot afford to ignore facts
Stating that humanity was “very likely” the cause of global warming, it paints a grim picture of the world by the end of this century, with disease and drought spreading as temperatures soar.
Sea levels are already rising faster than scientists predicted and tropical storms are getting more intense. With large areas of the planet looking set to be uninhabitable, to describe this frightening scenario as a wake-up call for mankind is an understatement.
The grave portents of the report, the first of four to be published by the panel this year, can no longer be spurned by governments which remain in denial about the degree of human influence on the rapid pace of climate change. That applies particularly to America where scientists back the Bush regime’s spurious claim that nature is to blame.
Undoubtedly, the challenge facing mankind, and especially the rich nations, is to cut greenhouse gases by 2050. In this context, the statistics speak for themselves and thus Ireland’s failure to meet either Kyoto or EU emission targets is very disappointing. Irish carbon emissions from transport doubled between 1990 and 2004, a trend reflecting the huge increase in the number of vehicles on our roads.
Industrial emissions are also rising here. It is clear from Met Éireann’s weather data that in line with the global picture, Ireland’s climate is steadily getting warmer. In fact, last year was the warmest on record at several Met centres.
Beside spending money under the National Development Plan 2007-2013 to curb greenhouse gases, the Government should also be prepared to take tougher action against defaulters.
To quote the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), “we can be very confident that the net effect of human activity since 1750 has been one of warming”.
This is the most authoritative assessment of the science of climate change and represents a definitive summary of the climatic shifts now facing the world in the coming decades. According to the United Nations, the findings mark a historical landmark in the debate about whether humans are affecting the state of the atmosphere.
As the doomsday clock ticks ever closer to midnight, it is now “at least” 90% certain that human emissions of greenhouse gases, rather than natural variations, are warming the planet’s surface. This contrasts dramatically with the 2001 report from the IPCC which found it “likely” (between 66% and 90% probability) that human activities lay behind the trends seen at the time.
There is incontrovertible evidence that unbridled burning of fossil fuel, and land use change, are directly affecting the climate of the planet.
Essentially, the UN report projects that temperatures will probably rise between 1.8C and 4C, possibly increasing by as much as 6.4C; sea levels will surge by 28cm to 43cm, and Arctic summer sea ice will disappear in the second half of the century.
As a result, there will be more heatwaves, and tropical storms will intensify. With fossil fuel running out, lifestyles will change radically. A billion people will have no car or air conditioning.
An African child born this year will face disease and new levels of drought by the time he or she is 50. With millions of children around the planet facing an uncertain future, we must all bear responsibility for the frightening repercussions of global warming.
Mankind will ignore the implications of this report at its peril.
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