'AR4 will provide new information on climate change

The Pioneer , Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Correspondent : Staff Reporter
Environment and Forest Minister A Raja said on Tuesday that the fourth Assessment Report, being prepared at present, will provide necessary data to identify vulnerable locations and suggest possible strategies to counter the impact of climate change.

Inaugurating the 22nd session of inter-governmental panel on climate change on Tuesday, Mr Raja said, "The fourth Assessment Report (AR4) can help convey new information on the range of likely climate change impacts, identify locations and systems that may be most vulnerable and evaluate different possible adaptation strategies."

He said the report would highlight the research being done in developing countries and voice the concerns of the South. The minister also stressed the need for making the findings of the study available to the masses.

Referring to the findings of the third Assessment Report (AR3) that the impact of climate change would disproportionately fall on the developing countries, he said, frequency of floods, landslides and summer droughts were of "particular concern".

Noting that climate change might affect the availability of surface water, Mr Raja said the pressure on water resources would be exacerbated due to population growth, unsustainable consumption patterns and uncontrolled uses and as such "water has been adopted as one of the crosscutting themes" in AR4.

He said adaptation and mitigation responses to climate change, already discussed by two separate groups of IPCC, should be undertaken in terms of the respective capabilities and differentiated responsibilities of the countries.

"Adaptation is important because we are already committed to a certain degree of warming and its associated impacts; despite any mitigation that may take place," Mr Raja said emphasising that "there is a need for adaptation now as well as initiatives for controlling emissions".

He pointed out that it was important to understand the consequences that different global mitigation strategies could have for necessary regional adaptation.

"Key issues include the role of technology, costing methodologies and time scales of implementation. To this end, the AR4 should aim to focus on technology issues and provide accurate assessment of the costs of various mitigation options," he said.

 
SOURCE : The Pioneer, Wednesday, November 10, 2004
 


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