Climate Clinic archive news
Climate Clinic Press Release
Tuesday 3 October 2006
DROUGHT COULD DOUBLE BY END OF CENTURY, MET OFFICE HADLEY CENTRE RESEARCH SHOWS
New research revealed at the Climate Clinic at the Conservative Party Conference today (Tuesday 3 October) showed that the current extent of drought could double by the end of the 21st Century, threatening the survival of millions of people around the world.
In the second half of the last century just one per cent of the world was affected by extreme drought.
The research, funded by DEFRA and carried out by Dr Eleanor Burke of the Met Office Hadley Centre uses a climate model to look at future drought based on temperature and rainfall predictions. It shows that global drought is already increasing as a result of climate change – and there is a greatly increased risk of extreme drought by 2080.
The figures, which do not take into account all the science uncertainties or the potential for carbon feedbacks, send a stark warning to politicians as they discuss action to tackle global warming at the G8 summit in Mexico this week.
Andrew Simms, speaking on behalf of the Climate Clinic, said:
"This report is jaw-dropping. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation already kills 1.6 million children under five years old every year. Small scale farming in Africa provides most of the continents food and seventy per cent of employment, virtually all is dependent on regular rainfall. The new projections on drought from the Hadley Centre are like being told that this is the day the earth catches fire.
“Immediate, radical economic reform to cut emissions is desperately needed to prepare us to deal with such a scenario. And massive resources must be found to help people in
Africa, Asia and Latin America whose lives and livelihoods will be in peril. The G8 special summit on climate change now underway in Mexico must begin by correcting the ninety per cent shortfall in promises of new funds to help poor countries adapt."
The Climate Clinic is calling on politicians of all parties to support urgent government action, both domestically and on the international stage, to prevent global temperatures rising more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels, beyond which our world faces disaster.
Organised by the UK’s leading green organisations and supported by business and the Energy Saving Trust, the Climate Clinic is taking place at each of the main party political conferences this year.
Climate Clinic Press: Ben Stewart: 07801 212967
Notes:
The research is to be published in the Journal of Hydrometeorology this month. Further details from the Met Office Hadley Centre.
The research used the Palmer Drought Severity Index and found that a global increase in drought is expected to continue throughout the 21st century.
Immediate release
Tuesday 19 September
POTENTIAL SEA LEVEL RISE WORSE THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT, WORLD EXPERT TELLS CLIMATE CLINIC
Discharge from ice sheet greater and faster than expected
Scientific studies over the last year show that ice is being discharged from Greenland and the West Antarctic Peninsula at a much greater rate than glaciologists previously thought possible, Professor Chis Rapley told the Climate Clinic in Brighton today (Tuesday 19 September). Professor Rapley also said the discharge from Greenland, and probably also Antarctica, is accelerating. The findings have profound consequences for the worlds sea levels.
The Director of the British Antarctic Survey - an acknowledged world expert - said the scientific understanding of what was happening was moving quickly, with significant new evidence on the speed of ice loss coming to light in the last few months.
Satellite gravity data shows a loss of about 210 cubic kilometres per year from Greenland. In the West Antarctic a similar amount of ice is being lost annually, while on the Antarctic Peninsula 87 per cent of glaciers are retreating. The worrying behaviour of the ice sheets is almost certainly a consequence of global warming, Professor Rapley said.
Its like opening a window and seeing whats going on, and the message is its worse than we thought, Professor Rapley said.
He added that although the complexity of the situation made it difficult to predict the impact, historical evidence pointed to a potential rise of five metres in mean sea levels. The most intense sea level rise in the last 10,000 years, known as a meltwater pulse saw levels rise by 5m in a single century. Professor Rapley says a similar catastrophic rate is unlikely to occur in the near future.
But even if carbon dioxide levels are successfully stabilised, sea levels will continue to rise into the future as a result of greenhouse gases already emitted, leaving a legacy for future generations.
Politicians must respond to the urgency of the issue, he said, adding that current international political action on curbing greenhouse gas emissions is inadequate.
Climate change is real, climate change is serious, and climate change is now, he said.
Professor Rapley was speaking at the Climate Clinic, a global warming conference within the Lib Dem conference in Brighton which has been organised by the UKs leading green organisations with the support of business and the Energy Saving Trust.
Climate Clinic Spokesperson Phillip Sellwood said:
Politicians from all parties must listen to what Professor Rapley has to say. We are facing a situation unlike anything we have ever faced before and they must respond accordingly. All parties must support urgent action to avert crisis and prevent the kind of devastating sea level rises that Professor Rapley tells us are possible.
Helen Burley mob: 07778 069930 or
Ben Steward Mob: 07801 212967
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Organised by the UKs leading green organisations and supported by business and the Energy Saving Trust, the Climate Clinic is taking place at each of the main party political conferences this year. The Clinic is calling on politicians of all parties to support urgent government action to avert crisis by preventing global temperatures rising more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels."
British Antarctic Survey is a world leader in research into global issues in an Antarctic context. It is the UKs national operator and is a component of the Natural Environment Research Council. It has an annual budget of around £40 million, runs nine research programmes and operates five research stations, two Royal Research Ships and five aircraft in and around Antarctica. More information about the work of the Survey can be found at: www.antarctica.ac.uk
Chris Rapley Prof Chris Rapley CBE is Director of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). Prior to this he was for four years the Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. This followed an extended period as Professor of Remote Sensing Science and Associate Director of University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory. He has a first degree in physics from Oxford, a M.Sc. in radioastronomy from Manchester University, and a Ph.D. in X-ray astronomy from University College London. He has been a Principal Investigator on both NASA and European Space Agency satellite missions and is a member of the NASA JPL Cassini mission Science Team. He has been a member of numerous national and international committees and boards including Vice President of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research and Chair of the International Council for Science's (ICSU) International Polar Year 2007-2008 (IPY) Planning Group. He is currently a member of the European Polar Board's Executive and ICSU - World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Joint Committee for IPY. He is a Fellow of St Edmund's College Cambridge, and is an Honorary Professor at University College London and at the University of East Anglia.
CENTRAL ENGLAND HAS WARMED BY ONE DEGREE SINCE 1960 – NEW STUDY
Ground-breaking research attributes local warming to humans for first time
Temperatures in Central England have warmed by one degree Celsius since 1960 and it’s almost certainly a result of manmade climate change.
The alarming revelation was made in a new Met Office paper released today at the Climate Clinic in Brighton. It’s the first time anywhere in the world that scientists have looked at such a small geographical area and identified a temperature rise that can only be explained by anthropogenic (human-induced) factors.
Temperature levels for the region, an area of 40,000 square miles stretching from East Anglia to the Midlands, have never before been collated and studied, and the findings are startling. The conclusions were possible because a unique temperature record exists for Central England stretching back to 1659. As a result it was possible to put the recent rise in context and the discount natural variations known as ‘background climate noise’. The authors of the study say that human influence is at least in part responsible for the one degree of warming since 1960.
Dr Peter Stott, Manager of Understanding and Attributing Climate Change at the Met Office and one of the authors, said: “This is a remarkable anthropogenic signal. Sharp spikes in warming have been recorded in regions across the world, but because we in the UK hold this unique temperature record stretching back nearly 350 years we are able to say that background climate noise can’t reasonably be held responsible for what’s happening in Central England. This is the first time anywhere in the world that climate scientists have been able to look at a small geographical area, identify significant warming and say humans have very likely played a part.”
Dr Stott released his findings at the first ever Climate Clinic being held at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton. Organised by the UK’s leading green organisations and supported by business and the Energy Saving Trust, the Climate Clinic is taking place at each of the main party political conferences this year.
Jason Torrance of the Climate Clinic said: “Dr Stott’s findings are deeply worrying. He’s found that a large slice of our country has warmed by a degree in the short period of time since man first went into space, and it’s down to what we as humans are doing. If the current trend continues the climate of our own country will face profound changes in the lifetimes of our children. The members of the Climate Clinic are calling on politicians of all parties to support urgent government action, both domestically and on the international stage, to prevent a climate disaster. The solutions to this crisis exist, what is now needed is political will.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
The study, entitled Anthropogenic warming of central England temperatures, is published today by the journal Atmospheric Science Letters, a publication by the Royal Meteorological Society. It was written by Dr Peter Stott of the Met Office and Professor David Karoly of the University of Oklahoma.