WORLD MUST ACT NOW TO BEAT CATASTROPHE, SAYS THE BRITS
World 'must act now to beat catastrophe'
By Katherine Haddon
London - World leaders must act urgently to avert a looming environmental catastrophe, the author of a major British report which sounds a wake-up call on climate change said on Monday.
Former World Bank chief economist Sir Nicholas Stern singled out economic powerhouses the US, China and India - major polluters whose backing is crucial for a global solution.
Specifically, he said, the world must be prepared to pay now to prevent an economic fallout in the future which could be on the scale of the Great Depression of the 1930s.
'Five and 20 percent of global gross domestic product every year, forever'
"There is still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, if we act now and act internationally," he said, releasing a 700-page report here.
"The task is urgent. Delaying action even by a decade or two will take us into dangerous territory. We must not let this window of opportunity close."
Stern was backed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who attended the launch with finance minster Gordon Brown.
Warning of "disastrous" consequences unless action was taken swiftly, Blair said politicians had to be "bolder at home, in Europe and internationally. Should we fail to rise to this challenge, I don't believe we will be able to explain ourselves to future generations."
The Stern review estimates that worldwide inaction could cost the equivalent of between five and 20 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) every year, forever. By contrast, the cost of action is equivalent to one percent of GDP.
It calls for international frameworks on emissions trading, technology co-operation, and deforestation.
Brown called for a worldwide carbon market to bring about a "low-carbon global economy" and said the government would introduce a climate change bill to enshrine carbon emission reductions in UK law.
He also announced that former US vice-president Al Gore would advise the government on green issues.
Stern said earlier a "business as usual" attitude would push temperatures up by 5°C over the next century, comparing the effect to that of last year's Hurricane Katrina in the US "intensified many times".
Elsewhere yesterday, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change announced that greenhouse gases emitted by the industrialised world are rising and the US remains the biggest polluter.
Excluding former Soviet bloc economies, an 11 percent increase in pollution was recorded from 1990-2004. From 2000 to '04, the figure was 2 percent.
* This article was originally published on page 2 of The Cape Times on October 31, 2006
By Katherine Haddon
London - World leaders must act urgently to avert a looming environmental catastrophe, the author of a major British report which sounds a wake-up call on climate change said on Monday.
Former World Bank chief economist Sir Nicholas Stern singled out economic powerhouses the US, China and India - major polluters whose backing is crucial for a global solution.
Specifically, he said, the world must be prepared to pay now to prevent an economic fallout in the future which could be on the scale of the Great Depression of the 1930s.
'Five and 20 percent of global gross domestic product every year, forever'
"There is still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, if we act now and act internationally," he said, releasing a 700-page report here.
"The task is urgent. Delaying action even by a decade or two will take us into dangerous territory. We must not let this window of opportunity close."
Stern was backed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who attended the launch with finance minster Gordon Brown.
Warning of "disastrous" consequences unless action was taken swiftly, Blair said politicians had to be "bolder at home, in Europe and internationally. Should we fail to rise to this challenge, I don't believe we will be able to explain ourselves to future generations."
The Stern review estimates that worldwide inaction could cost the equivalent of between five and 20 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) every year, forever. By contrast, the cost of action is equivalent to one percent of GDP.
It calls for international frameworks on emissions trading, technology co-operation, and deforestation.
Brown called for a worldwide carbon market to bring about a "low-carbon global economy" and said the government would introduce a climate change bill to enshrine carbon emission reductions in UK law.
He also announced that former US vice-president Al Gore would advise the government on green issues.
Stern said earlier a "business as usual" attitude would push temperatures up by 5°C over the next century, comparing the effect to that of last year's Hurricane Katrina in the US "intensified many times".
Elsewhere yesterday, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change announced that greenhouse gases emitted by the industrialised world are rising and the US remains the biggest polluter.
Excluding former Soviet bloc economies, an 11 percent increase in pollution was recorded from 1990-2004. From 2000 to '04, the figure was 2 percent.
* This article was originally published on page 2 of The Cape Times on October 31, 2006
posted by Paschal Baute at 12:23 PM
|
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home