Ben Hirschler, Reuters 24 Jan 08;
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Climate campaigner Al Gore urged world policymakers on Thursday to change laws "not just light bulbs" in tackling global warming, and a UN official said world market turmoil must not be allowed to delay action.
An annual meeting of world political and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland, this year has scheduled a record number of sessions and workshops on global warming. But a sharp downturn on markets and fears of recession have dominated discussion.
"If we get distracted by the aberrations that you see in the financial market right now it would clearly be very unfortunate," said Rajendra Pachauri, head of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Gore, in a swipe at U.S. President George W. Bush's environmental record, said the election of a new president in November could only bring an improvement.
"In addition to changing the light bulbs, it is far more important to change the laws and to change the treaty obligations that nations have," Gore told delegates, in apparent reference to what he sees as the Bush administration's reluctance to initiate legislation on environmental control.
"Whoever is elected is going to have a different position and a better position. But let's be clear: whoever the leaders are, this issue is going to be dealt with responsibly and effectively only when there is a sufficient degree of urgency on the part of the people themselves."
MARKET FOR WATER
Davos provides a rare opportunity for international business leaders and politicians to debate the means and the costs to economies and industry of reducing greenhouse gases believed to be accelerating global warming with its accompanying dangers of rising sea levels and climate change.
Nestle SA Chief Executive Peter Brabeck touched on one of the most sensitive ecological subjects at Davos, the production of biodiesel as an alternative "green" fuel from crops such as maize.
Brabeck said the drive for biofuels and industrial usage could severely deplete water resources. Action should be taken to create a market for water to drive conservation.
"It takes 9,000 liters of water to produce one liter of biodiesel. This strategy, which is not the right one, is backed by all major governments," he told a panel at Davos.
The demand for biofuels in Europe and the United States has also contributed to pressures pushing the cost of maize and soya upwards as world food prices have hit record levels.
The head of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation said in Davos the economic slowdown and possible recession in the United States and other rich countries would not have an impact on food prices, at least in the short term.
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf told Reuters the fundamentals that have pushed food prices to records in recent months -- climate change, emerging country demand, demand for biofuels and population growth -- remained in place.
(Writing by Ralph Boulton; editing by Sue Thomas)
Climate change 'significantly worse' than feared: Al Gore
Simon Sturdee Yahoo News 24 Jan 08;
Climate change is occurring far faster than even the worst predictions of the UN's Nobel Prize-winning scientific panel on climate change foresaw, Al Gore warned Thursday.
New evidence shows "the climate crisis is significantly worse and unfolding more rapidly than those on the pessimistic side of the IPCC projections had warned us," the former US vice president and climate campaigner told delegates at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos.
There are now forecasts that the North Pole ice cap may disappear entirely during summer months in as little as five years, Gore said.
"This is a planetary emergency. There has never been anything remotely like it in the entire history of human civilisation. We are putting at risk all of human civilisation," he added.
In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a report the size of three phone books on the reality and risks of climate change, its fourth assessment in 18 years.
In October both Gore and the IPCC, comprising around 3,000 experts, jointly won a Nobel prize for their roles in highlighting climate change.
Gore said a "little bit of progress" had been made at December's climate conference in Bali, Indonesia.
He added though that there was a "big, large blank spot" in the road map agreed in Bali, reserved for the United States' environmental policy once a new president is elected in November and inaugurated in January.
He said that the single most important policy that could be implemented would be a tax on carbon emissions that is applied across the whole world, "so that those who don't pay the price for carbon don't have an advantage over those who do."
"I think it is really important from a climate change point of view to move away from the idea that personal actions from each of us represents the solution to this crisis.
"These are important... but in addition to changing the light bulbs it is important to change the laws," Gore said.
He stopped short of endorsing any US presidential candidate but said that "whoever is elected will have a better position" on climate change than the current administration of US President George W. Bush.
Gore was appearing at Davos beside Africa activist and U2 frontman Bono in an effort to combine the fights against climate change and poverty.
"The brunt of this climate crisis is going to be felt in the developing world. All your work... will be undone if you don't focus on this," Bono said.
"It is clear that those people who have least created this climate crisis... are the least equipped to deal with it."
Gore added: "I want to say to everyone who wants to solve the climate crisis, they have to take Bono's agenda on extreme poverty, on fighting disease and dealing with the HIV/AIDS crisis and make it an integral part of the world's effort to solve the climate crisis."
