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<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5303574.stm>
Last Updated: Thursday, 31 August 2006, 17:44 GMT 18:44 UK
Top scientist's fears for climate
By Roger Harrabin
BBC environment analyst

Kangerdlussuaq Glacier, East Greenland (J.A. Dowdeswell)
Sea levels could rise by 4m over the coming century, he warns
One of America's top scientists has said that the world has already entered a 
state of dangerous climate change.

In his first broadcast interview as president of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, John Holdren
told the BBC that the climate was changing much faster than predicted.

"We are not talking anymore about what climate models say might happen in the 
future.

"We are experiencing dangerous human disruption of the global climate and we're 
going to experience more," Professor
Holdren said.

He emphasised the seriousness of the melting Greenland ice cap, saying that 
without drastic action the world would
experience more heatwaves, wild fires and floods.

He added that if the current pace of change continued, a catastrophic sea 
level rise of 4m (13ft) this century was
within the realm of possibility; much higher than previous forecasts.

To put this in perspective, Professor Holdren pointed out that the melting of 
the Greenland ice cap, alone, could
increase world-wide sea levels by 7m (23ft), swamping many cities.

Safe limits

He blamed President Bush not only for refusing to cut emissions, but also for 
failing to live up to his rhetoric on
harnessing technology to tackle climate change.

"We are not starting to address climate change with the technology we have in 
hand, and we are not accelerating our
investment in energy technology research and development," Professor Holdren 
observed.

He said research undertaken by Harvard University revealed that US government 
spending on energy research had not
increased since 2001. In order to make any progress, funding for climate 
technology needed to multiply by three or four
times, Professor Holdren warned.

Last year, the UK's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, held a science conference to 
determine the threshold of dangerous
climate change. Delegates concluded that to be relatively certain of keeping 
the rise below 2C (3.6F), CO2 levels in the
atmosphere should not exceed 400 parts per million (ppm) and the highest 
prudent limit should be 450 ppm.

In October, at an international conference in Mexico, UK environment and 
energy ministers will try to persuade
colleagues from the top 20 most polluting nations to agree on a CO2 
stabilisation level.

Professor Holdren expressed doubt that progress could be achieved because if 
the US administration agreed that there was
a need to limit CO2, this would inevitably lead to mandatory caps. President 
Bush has already rejected that option.

For more than a year, the BBC has invited the US government to give its view 
on safe levels of CO2. Our request is
repeatedly passed between the White House office of the Council on 
Environmental Quality and the office of the US chief
scientist.

To date, we have received no response to questions on this issue that Tony 
Blair calls the most important in the world.
Professor Holdren called on the US Government to back the UK position.

John Holdren, in addition to his presidency of the AAAS, is a director of the 
Woods Hole Research Center, and Teresa and
John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at Harvard University.

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RELATED INTERNET LINKS
AAAS
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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