[Vision2020] "This is the moral challenge of our generation.” UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon

[Ted Moffett]

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2009/2009-09-25-02.asp

*WASHINGTON, DC*, September 25, 2009 (ENS) - The speed and scope of global
warming is now overtaking even the most sobering predictions of the last
report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, finds a new report
issued by the United Nations Environment Programme, entitled "Climate Change
Science Compendium 2009."
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In his forward to the Compendium, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes,
"The science has become more irrevocable than ever: Climate change is
happening. The evidence is all around us. And unless we act, we will see
catastrophic consequences including rising sea-levels, droughts and famine,
and the loss of up to a third of the world's plant and animal species."

"We need a new global agreement to tackle climate change, and this must be
based on the soundest, most robust and up-to-date science available," writes
the secretary-general. "We need the world to realize, once and for all, that
the time to act is now and we must work together to address this monumental
challenge. This is the moral challenge of our generation."
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http://www.unep.org/compendium2009/
 Climate Change Science Compendium 2009

The Climate Change Science Compendium is a review of some 400 major
scientific contributions to our understanding of Earth Systems and climate
that have been released through peer-reviewed literature or from research
institutions over the last three years, since the close of research for
consideration by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.

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http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=596&ArticleID=6326&l=en&t=long

*Impacts of Climate Change Coming Faster and Sooner: New Science Report
Underlines Urgency for Governments to Seal the Deal in Copenhagen*

*Washington/Nairobi, 24 September 2009 *-The pace and scale of climate
change may now be outstripping even the most sobering predictions of the
last report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC).

An analysis of the very latest, peer-reviewed science indicates that many
predictions at the upper end of the IPCC's forecasts are becoming ever more
likely.

Meanwhile, the newly emerging science points to some events thought likely
to occur in longer-term time horizons, as already happening or set to happen
far sooner than had previously been thought.

Researchers have become increasingly concerned about ocean acidification
linked with the absorption of carbon dioxide in seawater and the impact on
shellfish and coral reefs.

- Water that can corrode a shell-making substance called aragonite is
already welling up along the California coast decades earlier than existing
models predict.

-Losses from glaciers, ice-sheets and the Polar Regions appear to be
happening faster than anticipated, with the Greenland ice sheet, for
example, recently seeing melting some 60 percent higher than the previous
record of 1998.

-Some scientists are now warning that sea levels could rise by up to two
metres by 2100 and five to ten times that over following centuries.

-There is also growing concern among some scientists that thresholds or
tipping points may now be reached in a matter of years or a few decades
including dramatic changes to the Indian sub-continent's monsoon, the Sahara
and West Africa monsoons, and climate systems affecting a critical ecosystem
like the Amazon rainforest.

The report also underlines concern by scientists that the planet is now
committed to some damaging and irreversible impacts as a result of the
greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere.

- Losses of tropical and temperate mountain glaciers affecting perhaps 20
percent to 25 percent of the human population in terms of drinking water,
irrigation and hydro-power.

- Shifts in the hydrological cycle resulting in the disappearance of
regional climates with related losses of ecosystems, species and the spread
of drylands northwards and southwards away from the equator.

Recent science suggests that it may still be possible to avoid the most
catastrophic impacts of climate change. However, this will only happen if
there is immediate, cohesive and decisive action to both cut emissions and
assist vulnerable countries adapt.

These are among the findings of a report released today by the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) entitled Climate Change Science
Compendium 2009.

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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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