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Scientists urge action on world’s biggest problems

By Chris Wickham

LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists

from 15 countries are calling for a better political response to the provision of water and energy to

meet the challenge of feeding a world of 9 billion people within 30 years.

A cup of heavy oil produced at the 

Statoil oil sands operation near Conklin, Alberta, is seen in this file picture taken November 3, 2011. 

REUTERS/Todd Korol/Files
A cup of heavy oil produced at the

Statoil oil sands operation near Conklin, Alberta, is seen in this file picture taken November 3, 2011.

REUTERS/Todd Korol/Files

The joint statement by some

of the world’s leading science academies was issued on Thursday ahead of the G8 summit in the United

States. It is part of the annual lobbying effort aimed at focusing the attention of world leaders on

issues the scientific community regards as crucial.

For the first time, the scientists argue

that looming shortages in water and energy supplies should be treated as a single issue.

“Major

stresses on availability of energy and water are already being felt in many countries and regions and

more are foreseeable,” the joint statement said.

Fossil fuel, nuclear and hydropower are still

providing the bulk of the world’s energy and they all rely heavily on the supply of water for cooling,

running steam turbines or direct power generation. Conversely, large amounts of energy are used in

pumping, purifying and desalinating water around the globe.

“Without considering water and

energy together, inefficiencies will occur, increasing shortages of both,” the statement warns.

Politicians should pursue policies that integrate the two and emphasise the need for conservation,

efficiency and cooperation across national borders.

DISASTERS CERTAIN TO HAPPEN

The world

also needs to increase its resilience against disasters like those which result from tsunamis,

earthquakes and levees that fail in the face of rising sea levels.

“Disasters are absolutely

certain to happen,” Michael Clegg of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences told Reuters, adding growth

in the global population, from 7 billion now, was focused on coastal areas that are more vulnerable,

making it “more important that we design for resilience.”

The scientists said global annual

losses from natural disasters exceeded $200 billion in 2005, 2008 and 2011 but loss of life was

generally much lower in developed countries.

Governments should focus efforts on improving

public health systems, strengthening building standards and better information technology that enables

faster warnings and response.

Signatories of the statement are from the leading science

academies in the United States, Russia, China, Britain, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India,

Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco and South Africa.

They also call for better measurement

of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and more solid data country by country on natural resources

like forests, which absorb some of the most damaging carbon emissions.

“More accurate and

standardized methods for estimating human and natural sources and sinks of greenhouse gases are needed

as a prerequisite for an international climate treaty and to determine the effectiveness of national

emission-reduction programmes,” they said.

Clegg said that despite the widespread acceptance of

the need to reduce greenhouse gases, there is still a lot of uncertainty about, and a lack of

standardisation in, the methods for measuring those emissions.

“There is a great need to develop

more accurate approaches,” he said, adding that it was a fundamental building block for the world’s

response to climate change but “getting a correct measurement … is challenging.”

The statement

urges politicians to “give greater consideration to the vital role science and technology could play in

addressing some of the planet’s most pressing challenges”.

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