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Permafrost Melt Heightens Climate Change Fears
11 August 2005
Friends of the Earth today (Thursday 11th) said reports that the world's largest frozen peat bog is melting, potentially releasing billions of tonnes of the global warming gas methane into the atmosphere, showed the urgent need for international action to tackle climate change.
The report published in New Scientist [1] highlights how a vast area of peat bog in Western Siberia that has been frozen since it formed 11,000 years ago is turning into a mass of shallow lakes. Sergei Kirpotin, a botanist at Tomsk State University in Russia who carried out the research said it showed an "ecological landslide that is probably irreversible and is undoubtedly connected to climatic warming".
The findings are being seen as evidence that the Earth has reached a "tipping point" - the point at which a slight rise in temperature triggers major change. In this case, the release of methane, a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, will trigger even greater rises in global temperatures.
Friends of the Earth Executive Director Tony Juniper said:
"This is clearly very worrying. We had not expected to see effects of climate change like this quite so soon - but it shows that there is an urgent need for governments to take international action to stabilise our climate or we will face devastating consequences.
"Tony Blair and other international leaders must pay attention to this stark warning ahead of the Montreal climate talks later this year. They must agree tough action to tackle man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Time is running out.
Western Siberia is reported to have warmed faster than almost anywhere else on the planet, with an increase in average temperatures of some 3 C in the last 40 years.
Notes
[1] www.newscientist.com/article/mg18725124.500.html
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Jun 2008
