| Alix Kroeger BBC News, Brussels |
An EU report says climate change will have a growing impact on global security, multiplying existing threats such as shortages of food and water. It warns that climate change could cause millions of people to migrate towards Europe as other parts of the world suffer environmental degradation.
States that are “already fragile and conflict prone” could be over-burdened, the report says.
EU proposals to tackle climate change will be discussed by leaders this week.
| It may lead to… more forced migration, and even possibly radicalisation and state failure EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner |
Polar icecaps
The report also highlights the Arctic as a possible area of future conflict. With the melting of the polar icecaps, new waterways and trade routes are opening up.
The region is rich in untapped oil and gas resources, and last year Russia staked its claim by planting a flag on the seabed beneath the North Pole.
There is, it says, “an increasing need to address the growing debate over territorial claims and access to new trade routes”.
But the report does not offer much in the way of specific solutions. It recommends more dialogue, international co-operation and further research.
The EU prides itself on being a world leader on climate change, but turning talk into action is not easy.
On the one hand, the EU scheme for carbon emissions trading is being expanded to take in aviation for the first time.
But plans to limit car emissions and switch to renewable energy are being hampered by objections from industries and some member states, which say they are being unfairly penalised.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7287168.stm
Published: 2008/03/10 17:16:50 GMT
EU leaders have agreed to finish talks by the end of the year on an ambitious plan to fight climate change. After a two-day summit in Brussels, leaders for the 27 nations said they hoped new legislation would be enacted in early 2009.
The bloc aims to implement a 20% cut in greenhouse gases by 2020, compared with 1990 levels.
More of the BS about Computer Models from last year.
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By Dr Vicky Pope
UK Met Office’s Hadley Centre |
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The state of the Earth’s atmosphere is influenced by many factors
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The only way to predict the day-to-day weather and changes to the climate over longer timescales is to use computer models.
These models solve complex mathematical equations that are based on well established physical laws that define the behaviour of the weather and climate.
However, it is not possible to represent all the detail in the real world in a computer model, so approximations have to be made. The models are tried and tested in a number of ways:
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