Nobel laureate warns against sea level rise

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri speaks at a panel in Istanbul, Turkey. DHA photo

Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, warned against the possible dangers of a sea level rise triggered by global warming at an Istanbul panel yesterday.

Speaking at a panel titled “Climate Change: Energy-Environment” at Istanbul’s Boğaziçi University, Pachauri explained the connection between energy and climate change.

“Once they were asking what kind of a relation there could be between energy and climate change. However, it is an indisputable fact that there is a global warming in ecosystems. The earth is getting gradually more vulnerable to human activities. We see the influences of human activities on climate change,” Pachauri said.

Pachauri also said global warming was causing a rise in sea levels, threatening many places and small islands at sea level.

“The melting of icebergs and the rise of water level in the oceans have been observed in the northern hemisphere in relation to the sea level rise. We have observed a 17-centimeter increase in sea level since the mid-20th century. On many small islands, the sea level has risen above one meter. As the icebergs continue to melt, the sea level will continue to rise as well,” he said.

Pachauri said the melting of icebergs and snow cover in the northern hemisphere would cause many catastrophes, underlining the heavy rainfall that has occurred since the 1950s.