Key climate change conference opens

Monday, 31 January 2005 12:00 AM

Experts from around the world will be gathering at the Met Office's Hadley Centre this week to assess the long-term impact of climate change.

Though the speakers at the conference will be mainly scientists, rather than politicians, the conference comes hot on the heels of Tony Blair's promise to place the problems of climate change at the heart of his agenda during the UK's G8 presidency.

Running from February 1 to 3, the conference will look at how different countries and areas of the world would be affected, how levels of climate change relate to greenhouse gas emissions, and what technological options are available to stabilise the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

It is also likely to feed into the Government's international development policy. Africa, the other focus of the G8 presidency, is thought to be particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Speaking on Friday, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, Margaret Beckett, said: "This scientific conference will make a valuable contribution to our G8 Presidency and our wider aim of reinvigorating the climate change debate and stimulating further engagement for future action.

"We hope it will provide new information on the risks of climate change and provide a firmer basis for discussing long-term stabilisation action. However, it is not of course, a policy negotiation."

Ms Beckett added that she hoped the conference would review "practical ways of achieving emission reduction required to meet different stabilisation goals."

On Sunday the WWF, which will be presenting a policy paper to the conference, warned that "dangerous levels" of climate change could be reached by 2026.

It suggests that if nothing is done, the earth will warm by two degrees above pre-industrial levels between 2026 and 2060. And the artic will warm by up to three times that amount.

This could lead to the loss of entire species such as the polar bear.

Head of climate change at the WWF-UK, Dr Catarina Cardoso, said: "If we don't act immediately the arctic will soon become unrecognisable.

"Polar bears will be consigned to history, something that our grandchildren can only read about in books."

She added that the conference should send a clear message to G8 governments that "drastic action" is needed if "unique ecosystems like the Arctic are not [to be] lost".

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