COP 15 opens with scientists debunking critics view on climate change

The 15th Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change opened today (Dec. 7) in Copenhagen, Denmark with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change saying there existed overwhelming evidence that regions of the world are already suffering the impact of climate change.

IPCC Chair, Dr Rajendra Pachauri at the opening of the conference urged the world to neglect the recent email stealing incident at the University of East Anglia adding that it was targeted at discrediting the IPCC.

``The panel has a record of transparent and objective assessment stretching over 21 years performed by tens of thousands of dedicated scientists from all corners of the globe,’’ he said.

``Our assessment reports are based on measurements made by many independent institutions world wide that demonstrate significant changes on land, in the atmosphere, on the oceans and in the iced-covered areas of the earth.’’

Pachauri said that the global community has a moral and material responsibility to do all it can to limit the growing impacts of climate change on vulnerable societies and regions.

He noted that the absence of mitigation policies would result in possible disappearance of sea ice by the latter part of the 21st century, increase in frequency of hot extremes, heat waves and heavy precipitation.
Other impacts brought about due to the absence of mitigation policies according to him include increase in tropical cyclone intensity, extinction of 20 to 30 per cent of species and exacerbation of current stress on water resources.