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Global warming is man-made
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Van Schalkwyk urges 'serious and immediate' action on global
warming
The release of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on climate change last month was a "clarion call" for world leaders that are hesitant to deal with global warming, South Africa's Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said.
He was reacting to the IPCC's report that outlined the unequivocal link between human activities and global warming. "The clock is ticking and time is running out for us to avoid major climate change with its attendant real and serious threats to our economies and people's livelihoods, health, food security, and damage to our ecosystems."
Van Schalkwyk said that, in a mere 150 years, humankind had elevated global greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to levels unprecedented in the last 650 000 years.
Global temperature could increase by 4°C
The IPCC suggested that global temperature could, by 2099, increase by between 1,8°C and 4°C in the absence of any climate action.
"Given this compelling scientific case, the lack of political will to act on the grounds of scientific uncertainty has now become indefensible, rather than merely ill-advised. We are now beyond a critical turning point in the debate: those who continue to ignore the threat and its causes, or invoke half-baked arguments to confuse and obstruct, will be doing the greatest disservice imaginable to current and future generations," Van Schalkwyk said.
"We will scrutinise the implications of this report closely, and especially its chapter on the regional implications of global climate change, and we look forward to the next three IPCC reports: on impacts and adaptation, on mitigation, and the synthesis report which are due for release later this year."
UN climate panel says global warming man-made
In February, the UN climate panel issued its strongest warning yet that human activities are heating the planet, adding pressure on governments to do more to combat accelerating global warming.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the most authoritative group on warming grouping 2 500 scientists from more than 130 nations, predicted more severe rains, melting glaciers, droughts, heat waves and rising sea levels.
"Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis", assesses the current scientific knowledge of the natural and human drivers of climate change, observed changes in climate, the ability of science to attribute changes to different causes, and projections for future climate change.
The final text said it was "very likely" - or a probability of more than 90% - that human activities led by burning fossil fuels explained most of the warming in the past 50 years. That is a toughening from the last report, in 2001, when the IPCC said the link was "likely", or 66 percent probable. Signs of change range from drought in Australia to record high January temperatures in Europe.
"Most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic (human) greenhouse gas concentrations," said the text. Three other IPCC reports later in 2007 will give more details of threats and ways to combat change.
A 20-page summary for policy makers outlines wrenching change such as a possible melting of Arctic sea ice in summers by 2 100 and a slowing of the Gulf Stream linked to an accelerating temperature rise. Sea levels are likely to rise by between 28 and 43 cm (11-17 inches) this century, according to a draft. The range is lower than forecast in 2001 but delegates said they clarified that the projection did not include the possibility of an accelerating melt of Greenland ice, which some studies suggest is under way.
The Summary can be downloaded in English from www.ipcc.ch and http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu.
