Global warming report changed by Govt. agents
 
Brussels, April 6, 2007 – How much effect shall the global warming cause on the life on the Earth has become a major question today. It is reported that the government delegates have changed the original language of the report and concealed the facts.

Some say that they have simply weakened the original language of the report.
A final draft of the report - written by scientists before government officials edit it - says "roughly 20-30 percent of species are likely to be at high risk of irreversible extinction" if global average temperature rises by 2.7 to 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit.

That part has been "diluted," said retired scientist Ian Burton attending the session on behalf of the Stockholm Environment Institute.

Another delegate said the amended version hedged on the sweep of the original text, inserting a reference to species "assessed so far."

Guy Midgley of the National Botanical Institute in South Africa, a lead author of the chapter on ecosystems that includes extinctions, said the changes will be "commensurate with the science."

Negotiations stretched past midnight and into early Friday. One issue of major debate was whether to delete all or parts of key tables specifying the projected impact of each rise of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, delegates said.

Another prolonged tussle emerged over whether to include estimated costs of damage from climate change - calculated per ton of carbon dioxide emissions, said the delegates on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Negotiations were expected to push right up against a Friday morning deadline for the report's release. As they broke for dinner on Thursday, carrying yellow boxes with gift chocolate Easter eggs, negotiators said they were in for a long night, but had confidence they will make their deadline.

There is little dispute about the science, although some disagree about their confidence in the research. But the main issue at the Brussels conference is how the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will say what it has to say in the most effective possible way - that 120 nations' negotiators can accept.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Belgium_Climate_Report.html