12 Nov 2007 - Valencia,
Spain – Governments cut vital facts and
important information from the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Summaries
for Policymakers for its First and Second
Working Group Reports, says WWF.
Earlier this year, the IPCC released what
is the world’s most credible assessment
on climate change in three underlying Working
Group Reports: The physical science basis
(February 2007); Impacts, Adaptation and
Vulnerability (April 2007); Mitigation of
Climate Change (May 2007).
In its latest report, What you should know
– WWF summary for policymakers — the global
conservation organization has extracted
a selection of key findings which failed
to make it into the IPCC summaries from
the first two Working Group reports.
“There is a contrast between the immense
wealth of the IPCC’s work and the politically
inspired trimming back in the Summaries
for Policymakers,” says Hans Verolme, Director
of WWF’s Global Climate Change Programme.
“These Working Group reports clearly laid
the case for deeper cuts in greenhouse gas
emissions. The summaries dilute this.”
Key findings that fell through the cracks
from the Working Group I Summary for Policymakers
include the increased incidence of potentially
destructive hurricanes, the warming of the
upper Pacific Ocean and the loss of glaciers
in the European Alps.
In the Working Group II Summary for Policymakers,
the IPCC was pressured to keep out references
to increases in water stress and more droughts
and floods.
Working group III, not covered by the WWF
review, clearly shows that it is possible
to stop global warming if the world’s emissions
start to decline before 2015. To keep our
climate safe, 50 to 85 per cent of CO2 emissions
will have to be cut by the middle of this
century.
“The IPCC along with Al Gore, won the Nobel
Peace Prize this year,” says Verolme. ”Governments
should follow the IPCC’s scientific advice
and agree to making the necessary emission
cuts at the UN Climate Summit in Bali to
protect life on Earth.”
Brian Thomson, WWF International
