IPCC Workgroup II Calls for Action

Is it significant that the IPCC opened its 9th session of Working Group II on a warm and sunny day in Brussels? Indeed, Europe's capital is mostly known for "its chocolates, [cyclist] Eddie Merckx and its rain", according to Belgian Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt.

But this weather is believed to worsen over future decades, turning northern countries into prosperous crop fields and leaving southern countries in the dust. Indeed, experts say it is increasingly clear that worldwide precipitations are shifting from the equator towards the poles. Warming regions like Siberia or even Alaska will soon be feeding the world.

According to Mr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the IPCC, Climate change has already had a "heavy impact on the Arctic region." Ecosystems are "being destroyed" and, concerning the indigenous communities living in the Arctic region, their "way of life is being threatened". While "Arctic temperatures and ice" have already noticeably changed, Pachauri further stressed that we live in an "interdependent society", and that "we can't shut our eyes to what's going on in other parts of the world", no matter how far these occurrences are from us.

For its contribution to the IPCC's 4th Assessment Report on global climate change, Working Group II calls for immediate action. And, as suggested by Mr. Pachauri, it is "the public [who] will make the decision" for action to be taken in democratic societies.