Scientists warn of ‘untold suffering’

More than 11,000 scientists from around the world have declared a ‘‘climate emergency’’, warning of ‘‘untold suffering’’ and calling for action ranging from curbing human population to leaving fossil fuels in the ground.

The unusual international collaboration, published in BioScience journal, was backed by more than 350 Australian scientists, including 10 current or ex-Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) researchers. Signatories hailed from 153 countries.

Despite warnings being issued for decades that rising greenhouse gases would disrupt the climate – and a slew of summits and treaties – such emissions have continued to rise with ‘‘increasingly damaging effects’’.

‘‘An immense increase of scale in endeavours to conserve our biosphere is needed to avoid untold suffering due to the climate crisis,’’ the article said.

The researchers – members of the Alliance of World Scientists – identified six critical steps governments, business ‘‘and the rest of humanity’’ can take, including leaving remaining stocks of fossil fuels untapped and ‘‘carefully pursuing effective negative emissions’’, such as ‘‘enhancing natural systems’’.

The signatories also highlighted population, a target often omitted in climate debates. The report noted the number of humans was swelling at the rate of 200,000 people per day, or more than 80 million a year.

Populations ‘‘must be stabilised – and ideally, gradually reduced’’, it said. Strengthening human rights, including making education ‘‘a global norm for all,

Charlie Veron marine biologist

especially girls’’, were ways to stem population growth.

‘‘If you have a rising human population, there’s the need for more food and the need for more energy,’’ said Thomas Newsome, one of the paper’s authors and a lecturer at the University of Sydney.

Dr Newsome said the impacts of climate change already under way were broad-ranging, prompting concern if not alarm from researchers ranging from human health to ecology and the social sciences.

Charlie Veron, a marine biologist accredited with naming about one-fifth of the world’s coral species and among the signatories, said climate change ‘‘was a lot, lot more serious than the general public realises’’.

Young people in particular ‘‘should make as much noise as they can’’, Dr Veron said, referring to the recent school strikes for climate action. ‘‘They are facing a world that will be an absolutely horrible place.’’

The loss of half the Great Barrier Reef’s corals in two consecutive summers of mass bleaching had failed to prompt action. ‘‘It’s still not taken seriously,’’ he said. ‘‘What does it take to wake the country up?’’

Linden Ashcroft, a lecturer in climate science and science communication at The University of Melbourne, said the report ‘‘adds to the roar from all fields of science that climate action needs to be taken now’’.

Dr Ashcroft, though, was not one of the signatories, saying that some climate scientists viewed it as ‘‘not our role’’ to make policy prescriptions.

Other steps people should take include eating mostly plant-based foods to reduce methane and other emissions, saving remaining primary forests to protect biodiversity, and shifting to a carbon-free economy based on renewable energy, the report said.

Global temperatures have warmed more than a degree since pre-industrial times with the seven warmest years on record all occurring since 2010.

This year is likely to be among the top two or three, with last month likely to be declared the hottest October on record, preliminary data shows. – Nine

‘‘What does it take to wake the country up?’’