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A grey kangaroo falls victim along the highway while feeding on grass. Condensation run-off from the road provides tempting grass growth during severe drought.
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Delegations and scientists from about 140 nations will meet in Spain to
draft the report. They form the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), the same UN network of scientists that recently shared
the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.
Their report is a ‘synthesis’ of three previous 2007 climate reports. It will warn that climate change is gathering momentum and countries must act urgently to slash greenhouse pollution.
Australian climate scientist, Dr Melanie Fitzpatrick, is a member of the report’s expert review panel. She says, “A drop of five to six degrees is all it takes to plunge the planet into an ice age. So, four degrees of warming would be a huge change, to a hotter world few of us would recognize.”
The IPCC report will emphasise that climate change is very real now, not a vague future threat, and that human activity is mostly to blame. It will warn that, unless we radically slash our emissions from burning coal, oil and natural gas, dangerous climate warming of more than four degrees Celsius could be in store.
Greenhouse gas levels in our atmosphere are now higher than they’ve been for 650,000 years. That’s more than twice as long as humans have walked the planet. Around the world, droughts are longer and more intense, the IPCC says. Eleven of the last 12 years are the hottest on record.
Says Greenpeace energy campaigner, Ben Pearson, “This week we will hear from the world’s top climate scientists that the state of the planet is dire and we have no time to waste. Yet neither major party has even committed to reducing emissions in the time frame needed to avoid dangerous climate change.”
To reduce emissions by the amount needed in the next decade we must replace coal with energy efficiency and renewables. There is no other way.
Their report is a ‘synthesis’ of three previous 2007 climate reports. It will warn that climate change is gathering momentum and countries must act urgently to slash greenhouse pollution.
Watch video: An Australian climate scientist explains the climate report findings and solutions
The IPCC meeting is one month before UN climate talks in Bali, Indonesia, where governments will negotiate a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol.Australian climate scientist, Dr Melanie Fitzpatrick, is a member of the report’s expert review panel. She says, “A drop of five to six degrees is all it takes to plunge the planet into an ice age. So, four degrees of warming would be a huge change, to a hotter world few of us would recognize.”
The IPCC report will emphasise that climate change is very real now, not a vague future threat, and that human activity is mostly to blame. It will warn that, unless we radically slash our emissions from burning coal, oil and natural gas, dangerous climate warming of more than four degrees Celsius could be in store.
Greenhouse gas levels in our atmosphere are now higher than they’ve been for 650,000 years. That’s more than twice as long as humans have walked the planet. Around the world, droughts are longer and more intense, the IPCC says. Eleven of the last 12 years are the hottest on record.
Says Greenpeace energy campaigner, Ben Pearson, “This week we will hear from the world’s top climate scientists that the state of the planet is dire and we have no time to waste. Yet neither major party has even committed to reducing emissions in the time frame needed to avoid dangerous climate change.”
To reduce emissions by the amount needed in the next decade we must replace coal with energy efficiency and renewables. There is no other way.
Watch video: Climate scientist Dr. Melanie Fitzpatrick explains the UN report
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