UN climate report: already out of date?

"some experts are worried, fearing that the IPCC's ponderous machinery, which gives birth to a new review only every five or six years, is falling dangerously behind with what's happening to Earth's climate systems.

The new report notably fails to take into account a batch of dramatic recent evidence, including the shrinkage of the Arctic ice cap, glacier loss in Greenland, a surge in levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and an apparent slowing of Earth's ability to absorb greenhouse gases, they say.

Taken together, say the sources, these phenomena suggest climate change is be occurring faster than expected -- and may even unleash "tipping points" that could uncontrolably accelerate the damage.

"Over the past several years we have realized ... that the speed at which changes can occur -- such as ice sheet disintegration and resulting sea level rise -- is much faster than IPCC has estimated," leading climatologist James Hansen, who heads the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, told AFP.

"We are now in a situation where the luxury of super-caution and reticence poses a danger for the planet and all its creatures," he said."

Bron:www.wbcsd.org