---

---

---

---

Science Current Events and Science News RSS Feeds

---

---

Email a Friend Printer Friendly

New policies needed to combat Global Change, says Commissioner Wallström

January 20, 2004

Never before have policy makers faced a more challenging task than responding to global change, said EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström, in an article in the International Herald Tribune today (http://www.iht.com/articles/125563.html) and in a statement made for the launch of a new book on global change* (http://www.igbp.kva.se/booklaunch/).

Global change is the combination of changes that are occurring to the Earth's environment as a result of human and natural forces. In the book, a view of a rapidly changing planet is presented by hundreds of scientists from around the world.

"The rate and extent of change, especially since the 1950s is unprecedented," says Dr Will Steffen, Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme and lead author of the book. "We are changing the very life support system on which we depend and its future is highly unpredictable."

One of the concerns raised by the book is that many of the changes occurring to the Earth remain "invisible" for long periods until critical thresholds are crossed and large changes follow. "Some changes may be irreversible on any time scale meaningful to humans", says Steffen.

Speaking at the launch, Nobel Prize-winner Paul Crutzen, cites our experience with the ozone hole as an example of a large change that remained unnoticed for many years. Had we used bromine instead of chlorine in propellants and refrigerants we would now have a catastrophic ozone hole covering a large portion of the planet. It was luck that prevented this catastrophe. What other surprises might lay ahead (and which may already have been set in motion by our activities over the past 50 years)?

Such catastrophic changes will first appear as rapid regional changes in vulnerable areas, even though they may result from global forces, says Founding Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Professor Bert Bolin. "Most major global changes will actually be first experienced by us as humans in our local setting," he says. "It is most important for policy makers to know where these 'Achilles' heels' in the Earth System are and what might happen to them."

The quality of life of present and future generations depends on the effectiveness of current policy decisions, says Wallström. She points to better collaboration between scientists, policy makers and the public as an important step in the process.

"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been instrumental in catalysing international action against global warming and testifies to the importance of science in promoting action to address global change," she said.

Wallström and the scientists involved in the study also point to the need for a multilateral approach similar to the Kyoto Protocol but even more far-reaching.

"while most practical action will in the end be taken at local, regional and national levels, international frameworks are essential," she said.

International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)