Scientists urge leaders to step up fight against climate change

NAIROBI, Sept. 17 -- Forty of the world's leading climate scientists have signed an open letter demanding global leaders take bolder action against climate change.

The joint statement --initiated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and endorsed by recognized climate luminaries such as Sir John Houghton, former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- calls for industrialized countries to make a commitment at the upcoming UN climate summit in Copenhagen to cut carbon emissions by at least 40 percent below the 1990 levels by 2020.

"So a 40 percent reduction in emissions is the very least required to provide a better chance of avoiding devastation for these countries and communities," said Saleemul Huq, one of the signatories, IPCC author and Senior Fellow in the Climate Change Group at the International Institute for Environment and Development.

"The scientific evidence now indicates that even a rise in temperature of 2¡ãC will entail considerable hardships for poor and vulnerable people around the world, especially those living on low-lying islands and coasts," they said in a letter received here Thursday.

The WWF says key meetings that will shape the global climate deal take place in coming weeks, including the UN General Assembly in New York and the G20 Heads of State meeting in Pittsburgh.

Campaigners say it is vital that the politicians attending the meetings take note of such timely advice from the world's scientific community.

"As the UK government rallies the EU to step up to the mark ahead of Copenhagen, it's time for Gordon Brown and other world leaders to turn words into action," said WWF's Head of Climate Change Keith Allott.

Dr. Dave Reay, another of the signatories, IPCC contributor and Senior Lecturer in Carbon Management, Edinburgh University, said: "The scientific evidence of climate change from around the world is providing a clear and urgent call for action.

"If we are to be successful in preventing the worst impacts of climate change then world leaders from the industrialized nations must commit to reducing emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020,"he said.

The meeting in Copenhagen set for December "is hugely important in putting the world on a path that leads us away from dangerous climate change," he added.

At the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, world leaders have the opportunity to agree on a historic global climate deal.

To avoid dangerous climate change, the deal must be based on the most up-to-date scientific understanding of the emissions reductions required, with obligations divided equitably between developed and developing countries.

According to scientists, this means that developed countries must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent below the 1990 levels by 2020.

More than 120 countries, including the members of the G8, the EU, and key emerging economies such as China, South Africa and Mexico, agree that the rise in global temperature must stay well below 2 degrees Celsius.

Beyond this point climate impacts will be more severe, with the risk of crossing "tipping points" with dangerous and irreversible effects.