Climate Change, Future Conflict and the Role of Climate Science

摘要

There is now a general consensus amongst climate scientists that the Earth is undergoing significant warming, mainly as a result of human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and land-use changes. The last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report (IPCC TAR) was published in 2001, and showed that global mean surface temperatures had risen some 0.6℃ since the beginning of the twentieth century. Whilst to many this temperature rise does not seem significant, palaeoclimatological studies suggest that this means that the Earth is warmer than it has been for at least the last 1,000 years and there is compelling evidence to suggest that the Earth is warmer now than it has been for 5,000 years.