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Media Release - 15 July 2001"Planet under Pressure" warns Australian greenhouse scientist at international conference in AmsterdamLeading greenhouse scientist, Professor Ian Noble warned a major international conference of environmental scientists in Amsterdam last week that the Earth's global carbon cycle and hence its weather patterns are being significantly affected by human activity. Prof Noble, CEO of the Australian-based Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting and one of the world's acknowledged experts on greenhouse sinks, gave an address to 1800 scientists from 100 countries in Europe, Africa, the USA, Asia and Australia at a conference organised by the IGBP (International Geosphere Biosphere Programme) based at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Prof Noble stated that if participating nations do not agree on scientifically valid rules for tracking CO2, at gatherings such as COP 6 resuming in Germany later this month, it may lead to "bogus" carbon credit arrangements that don’t really contribute to fixing the problem. He stressed that "What the planet needs are real reductions in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere in order to reduce the greenhouse problem." The Kyoto Protocol, recently and controversially dismissed by the USA as "unworkable" aims to set out rules for measuring such changes to our atmosphere as well as strategies to manage human-induced factors through the potential introduction of carbon trading schemes and the use of trees as carbon sinks. Prof Noble's concern that the planet is under intense pressure from humans was echoed by many international scientists including Dr Will Steffen, Executive Director of the IGBP, who agreed, saying “The Earth’s environment is now experiencing a completely new combination of pressures and it is unclear whether the planet will be able to absorb them.” Greenhouse Accounting argues that the exchange of carbon between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems and the oceans outweigh the emissions caused by fossil fuels more than 20 fold. Land-based carbon sinks (trees, revegetation, soil management) can serve to offset as much as half of the greenhouse gas emission reductions required by the Kyoto negotiations. However, Prof Noble advises, international carbon accounting rules may create "winners and losers" amongst developed and developing countries. "So it is essential we adopt scientifically-based rules for sinks that reflect what the atmosphere actually 'sees' if sinks are to buy us enough time for the social and technological changes needed to reduce our global dependence on fossil fuels." These and many other strong messages came from international global change scientists as they met in Amsterdam between 10-13 July for one of the biggest international conferences ever held in this growing field of science. The CRC for Greenhouse Accounting was established in 1999 and has research offices in Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Rockhampton, Brisbane, Melbourne and Canberra (HQ). The CRC was established under AusIndustry's flagship R&D CRC Program to examine land-based carbon sinks and carbon emissions in Australian landscapes. ____________________________________________ · Details of the IGBP "Challenges of a Changing Earth Conference" available by Email · IGBP Virtual Media Room is at www.sciconf.igbp.kva.se
Media Liaison - Amsterdam
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