Climate Confidential #9: Montreal – Long-Term Targets
First Broadcast: 9 November 2005
Featuring:
- Simon Retallack
The first in a series of shows looking forward to the UN climate change discussions in Montreal takes a look at the need to set internationally agreed thresholds which will give us the targets we need to avoid dangerous climate change. We speak to Simon Retallack of the International Climate Change Task Force who tells us that we need to keep warming within 2 degrees centigrade if we are to avoid:
- irreversible loss of the Amazon rainforest and 95% of coral reefs
- global food insecurity
- a third of the world's population facing the threat of water scarcity
- and 'positive' feedbacks that would result in much greater levels of warming
Will the talks in Montreal result in an agreement on such limits and thereby set the framework for binding targets that might help us avoid disaster? What are we to make of Tony Blair's recent pronouncements against binding targets? What will the EU be taking to the negotiating table?
For more information, see Setting a Long-Term Climate Objective by Simon Retallack for the International Climate Change Taskforce
Available Audio
climate_radio_20051109_CC9_Montreal_Targets_hi – Listen Online | Download .mp3 (22.02 MB)
climate_radio_20051109_CC9_Montreal_Targets_low – Listen Online | Download .mp3 (15.30 MB)