The head of the UN climate panel that shared the Nobel Peace Prize last week said there was still time for the world to turn around the global warming trend as he visited Japan for talks.
Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told a press conference the Nobel prize committee's decision showed it believed climate change was a threat to world peace.
"This clearly indicates that they are aware of the fact that if we don't do something about the problem, peace and stability can be threatened," said the Indian scientist.
"It is essential for us to stabilise the concentration of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, because otherwise there will be increasing misery," he said. Pachuari is in Japan to give the keynote address at a two-day environmental conference sponsored by Global Environmental Action, a group created by Japanese politicians, business leaders and scholars.
He said the increased incidence of floods, severe storms, heat waves and droughts due to largely man-made climate change were the cause of much human suffering.
"Most of the change that has taken place in the last 50 years is essentially the result of human activities," he said. The environmental "stress" on the globe was harming lives, but solutions were already available, he said "Fortunately, the mitigation options that can be used for solving these problems and stabilising the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are not expensive at all. We have clearly established that," he said.
"We also established that all the technologies that you need for reducing the emission of greenhouse gases are available today," he said. The IPCC will issue a fresh 30-page report next month, offering possible policy and mitigation options for decision-makers around the world, he said.
Disincentives such as financial charges on emission gas producers should further promote the use of environmental technologies, he added. Pachuari called on Japan to lead international efforts to tackle the issue, particularly through the use of technology.
He added that although the United States, the world biggest economy, may seem hesitant to adopt aggressive environmental policies, many American communities and companies had implemented sound environmental policies. "I think all of this in a federal structure, in a democracy, will definitely influence the position of the federal government," he said.
The IPCC, regarded as the world's top scientific authority on global warming and its impact, shared this year's Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice president turned environmental activist Al Gore. The panel, comprising around 3,000 experts, has released grim but increasingly influential reports warning that humans are causing global warming.