NZ urged to do more

New Zealand needs to do more to counter the damaging effects of greenhouse gases, a leading climate scientist, Dr Jim Salinger, says.

"We need to be looking at a 40% carbon emission reduction target by 2020," he said in an interview.

A University of Otago graduate who grew up in Dunedin, Dr Salinger is an honorary research fellow at the Auckland University School of Geography, Geology and Environmental Science.

He is also president of the World Meteorological Organisation's Commission for Agricultural Meteorology.

Yesterday, he gave a public lecture at Otago University, speaking about climate change and the need to "get off the carbon-intensive gravy train".

More than 130 people attended the talk, which was part of the university's Energy Studies Seminar Series.

• Dr Salinger reviewed the evidence for global climate change and emphasised the need to cut carbon emissions.

"The carbon party is over."

He was a lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was awarded a Nobel Prize in 2007.

Scientific research had continued since the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report on Climate Change was published in 2007, he said.

More recent projections suggested that melting polar ice could result in world sea levels rising about 1.6m by 2100.

Higher seas would damage low-lying Pacific Island nations, increase the effect of storm surges, and interfere with fresh water supplies.

Higher sea levels on the Otago coast would also make the Taieri Plain more prone to flooding when the Taieri River was already high, and would add to concerns about potential sea wall damage and erosion at St Clair and Middle beaches, he said.

Dr Salinger was a principal scientist with NIWA's National Climate Centre until he was controversially dismissed in April, apparently for speaking to the news media without gaining prior approval.

A personal grievance claim over his dismissal will be heard by the Employment Relations Authority in October.

 

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