Planet 'on course for catastrophe'

February 02, 2007 03:01pm

UN predictions of a rise in global temperatures would be a disaster for all life on earth, resulting in widespread extinction of many species, Australian of the Year Tim Flannery has said.

The respected scientist said the UN's prediction of a three degree Celsius temperature rise was conservative and in fact could be double that figure resulting in "truly catastrophic" conditions for all life on earth.

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releases its report in Paris tonight, with its strongest warning yet that human activities are causing global warming that may bring more drought, heatwaves and rising seas.

IPCC scientists agreed it was "very likely" human activities were the main cause of warming in the past 50 years, predicting temperatures would rise by three degrees Celsius and sea levels by as much as 43cm by the turn of the century.

Professor Flannery said the UN climate report's predictions on the consequences of global warming are "middle of the road" but will still provide a useful benchmark for the world to tackle climate change. >>>cont

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Bush-Linked Group Offers Cash To Debunk UN Climate Report

The Guardian Ian Sample February 1, 2007 10:45 PM

Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world's largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today.

Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

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