A major climate meeting opened Monday in the Thai capital with delegates debating how to rein in rising greenhouse gas emissions that could threaten hundreds of millions with hunger and disease in the coming decades. For the rest of the week, hundreds of scientist and diplomats attending the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change meeting will work to finalize a report detailing a range of technological options to mitigate rising levels of carbon dioxide, methane and other heat-trapping gases. «The time to act is now,» Chartree Chueyprasit, a deputy secretary in Thailand's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, told delegates. «Global warming has increasingly become a hot (issue) which requires harmonized cooperation between all nations,» he said. «The IPCC has realized the scientific knowledge to provide the necessary solutions.» The draft report, which will be amended following comments from dozens of governments, says emissions can be cut below current levels if the world shifts away from carbon-heavy fuels like coal, invests in energy efficiency and reforms the agriculture sector. «The science certainly provides a lot of compelling reasons for action,» said Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the climate change panel. «But what action and when is what the government will have to decide.»
