(April 14, 2008 – Chicago, Illinois) Scientists meeting in Budapest, Hungary last week to discuss climate change warned that future global warming will cause floods and droughts, putting world water and food supplies at risk.
“We may see a decline in agriculture production,” said Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Experts contacted by The Heartland Institute disagreed with that assessment. You may quote from this statement or contact the experts directly at the phone numbers and email addresses provided below.
“The recent announcement by IPCC regarding more flooding in the Northern Hemisphere and droughts in some southern and arid zones in the coming decades due to ‘climate change’ is without any merit. Droughts and floods have occurred in the Earth’s climate in the past, without being forced by human activity.
“The best way to deal with future droughts and floods is to improve short-range (1-3 months and longer) climate prediction so that such droughts/floods can be predicted and monitored well ahead of time to minimize their impacts on human societies. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is no guarantee that such droughts and floods will NOT occur in future.”
Dr. Madhav L. Khandekar
Expert Reviewer, IPCC 2007 Climate Change report
50 years in weather and climate science
[email protected]
phone 905/940-0105
“Alarmists say rising temperatures will produce droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events that hurt agriculture. This is a hypothesis that can be — and has been — tested with real-world data from the past. More often than not, researchers have found that a warmer climate seems to have positive impacts on agriculture.”
Dr. Craig Idso, Chairman
Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change
[email protected]
For more information about The Heartland Institute, please contact Harriette Johnson, media relations manager, at [email protected] or 312/377-4000.
Diane Carol Bast is a former member of The Heartland Institute’s board of directors.
