The IPCC report, released at a meeting in Shanghai, China, showed that the main reason behind the rise was a fall in sulphur dioxide emissions. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide tended to warm the earth's atmosphere, whereas sulphur dioxide tended to cool it. The IPCC's Sir John Houghton warned from Shanghai: "We have had the warmest decade in the history of the last millennium, the last thousand years, in the 1990s. The Earth is certainly warming up and our projections for the warming next century we believe are quite robust."
The Shanghai report, meant to be the most comprehensive study on global warming to date, says new evidence shows more clearly than ever that temperature increases are caused mostly by pollution, not by changes in the sun or other natural factors. Rising temperatures could lead to drastic shifts in weather, scientists at the meeting said. Drought could strike farming areas, while melting polar ice could raise sea levels, flooding densely populated areas.
The next round of climate change talks will resume in Bonn, Germany, in May. So Karen had better start getting her maps, tent and bicycle clips out for another long ride to lobby ministers as they congregate in the old West German capital.
Watch this space!!
Carol Laidlaw