New climate change scenarios

whaling in the Southern Ocean is problematic. " The Japanese are still out catching fairly significant numbers of whales, and not just minkes, though that's what they're meant to be focusing on, " he commented. " If they stuck to their targets, and did their whaling as they say they do when they're at the IWC meetings, then I think they might have a little more support. They'd also need to do the research nobody is doing and actually go count how many minkes there are, so that real, informed quotas could be set. " Meanwhile, a research group led by Andrew Pershing at the University of Maine has estimated that a century of whaling has released more than 100 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. In the early days, much of the whale fat was converted to carbon dioxide directly, as it was used as lamp oil. But even today, whaling diminishes what Pershing describes as " the forests of the oceans ". Whales can serve as a very efficient means of natural carbon capture and storage. " This marine system is unique because when whales die [naturally], their bodies sink, so they take that carbon down to the bottom of the ocean, " Pershing said. " If they die where it's deep enough, it will be [stored] out of the atmosphere perhaps for hundreds of years. " Pershing also suggested that carbon credits and financial schemes that are already applied in rainforest conservation could help to protect whale populations. Maybe the right kind of incentive could even wean the Japanese off their whale-hunting habit. While controversy still surrounds some of the workings of the International Panel on Climate Change, others are continuing to consider the consequences of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. While many believe poorer, low-lying countries may bear the brunt of climate change, a group of researchers, planners and economists have been considering possible consequences for a wealthy country — the UK. They considered three scenarios of climate change, all of which suggest major upheaval to the pattern of life in the country. Mass migration northwards to new towns in Scotland, Wales and northeast England may be needed to cope with climate change and water shortages in southeast England, according to a vision set out by the UK Government Office for Science. Failure to manage land in a coordinated way could result in severe shortages …