Professor Bob Watson, Chief Scientific Advisor to Defra has commented, in an interview with the Guardian newspaper, that the UK should plan for the effects of a 4C rise in temperature on pre-industrial levels. Professor Watson is reported, on the front page of today’s paper, as saying “There is no doubt that we should aim to limit changes in the global mean surface temperature to 2C above pre-industrial…But given this is an ambitious target…we should be prepared to adapt to 4C.”

According the scenarios in the 2006 Stern Review, 20 – 50% of plant and animal species would face extinction at this higher temperature, along with increased coastal flooding (affecting 7 – 300 million more people each year), a decline of 15 – 35% of agricultural yields in Africa and a 30 – 50% reduction of water availability in the Mediterranean.

Professor Watson also said that the UK should take the lead in developing Carbon Capture and Storage technology (CCS). He advocated an “Apollo-type” programme to introduce 10 – 20 CCS pilot projects. He commented that “without this technology we have a real problem”.

See the full article in the Guardian: Prepare for global temperature rise of 4C, warns top scientist, 7 August 2008