UN experts near accord on bleak climate warning

[cal04]

Source: Jeff Mason

Climate experts neared agreement on Friday on the bleakest U.N. warning yet about the impacts of global warming, but some participants said parts were getting watered down from a harder-hitting draft. Scientists working with government delegates from more than 100 nations on the U.N. climate panel were locked in overnight talks in Brussels, seeking to overcome differences about a 21-page summary due for publication at 0800 GMT.

The report predicts more hunger in Africa and Asia and water shortages that could affect up to 3 billion people, extinctions of species and a rise in ocean levels that could go on for centuries.

"It's very frustrating," one participant, who declined to be named, said of the toning down of the draft written by scientists.

The final review is made by both scientists and government delegates in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L06671056.htm

---

While Europeans sought to include stronger language and hard numbers warning about the dangers of global warming, the US favoured general statements about trends, he said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21514031-1702,00.html

[Warren Stupidity]

1. Why is this being re-written by committtee?

Seems to me that what is supposed to be a scientific consensus report has become a major political football.

""It's very frustrating," one participant, who declined to be named, said of the toning down of the draft written by scientists."

Sniff.. sniff - I smell republican malfeasance.

[lvx35]

2. Oh, good. I'm glad they decided to tone down the destruction to our environment.

These scientists will destroy everything if you let them. But by toning down the language in their magic "prediction" spells, those bad things won't happen. :sarcasm:

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. An example of the rewriting, given on the BBC radio Today programme

What we've been seeing overnight is a succession of complaints reported from scientists that government representatives are simply going too far, and trying to cut too much out. I'll give you one example: I saw a copy of an overnight document, in which a paragraph had been excised. That paragraph said:

North America is expected to experience locally severe economic damage plus substantial eco-system, social and cultural disruption from climate change-related events in extreme weather etc.

That paragraph has been scrubbed out; the following paragraph has been left in:

A moderate temperature rise in the early part of the century could bring an increase of 5-10% in rain-fed agriculture in North America.

Transcript from audio

This isn't just a bit of judicial editing; it's a wholesale attempt to change the message. If it succeeds, Bush, Exxon and everyone will suddenly be saying the IPCC is a balanced organisation after all, and trumpeting "look, the IPCC says it won't be so bad". :mad:

[Tyler Durden]

4. Bleakest warning issued on climate (Fri Apr 6, 2007 5:36AM EDT)

Source: Reuters (Brussels)

By Jeff Mason

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Top climate experts issued their bleakest forecasts yet about global warming on Friday, ranging from hunger in Africa to a thaw of Himalayan glaciers in a study that may add pressure on governments to act.

More than 100 nations in the U.N. climate panel agreed a final text after all-night disputes during which some scientists accused governments of watering down some of their findings in a draft 21-page summary.

"We have an approved report," Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told reporters on Friday morning after negotiations about the regional impact of climate change that began on Monday.

(snip)

It builds on a previous IPCC report in February saying that human greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from burning fossil fuels, are very likely to be the main cause of recent warming.

(more)

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL052735320070406

---

None of us get out of life alive, but I cannot understand why the wealthy power brokers in this country seem to feel that they and theirs will somehow buy their way out of this disaster.

[Delphinus]

5. The key thing is "in this country".

Until it starts affecting the people here - in the US - global climate change won't mean diddly squat to them. IMHO, of course.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. what I find worrisome

is that some scientists think this report is watered down--this means they predict even more dire things happening.

[Kolesar]

7. Your last comment sums up my feelings

In my experience, I am getting positive vibes back from the Mr. White Suburban Middle Class professional white men in cubicle land. They used to be the "go along with Clinton bashing" types, or were outright Clinton bashers. Good morning.