Here are some key points form the recent UN Climate Change Conference recently. It is a best buy scenario. The world is warming rapidly, a trend that “must be halted soon”.

Here are the reasons - ” The 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) compiled by several hundred climate scientists, has unequivocally concluded that our climate is warming rapidly, and that we are now at least 90% certain this is mostly due to human activities. The amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere now far exeeds the natural range of the past 650,000 years, and it is rising very quickly due to human activity.”

“If this trend is not halted soon, many millions of people will be at risk from extreme events such as heat waves ( France has had many deaths through this) drought (Africa), floods and storms (New Orleans, Hull, Doncaster) (eroding coast of NE England) and our cities will be threatened by rising sea levels, and many ecosystems, plants and animal species will be in serious danger of extinction”.(Dare I say “And that includes us”) (Words in brackets are my own).

“As scientists, we urge the negotiators to reach an agreement that takes these targets - Global Warming should be no more than 2C [3.6F] above the pre-industrial level. global greenhouse gases to be reduced by 505 below their 1990 levels by 2050 - as a MINIMUM requirement for a fair and effective global climate agreement.”

This account is based on THE TIMES report of the Bali Conference on 6th December 2007.