Academics

IPCC Leaked Document: Crops and Local Economies to Suffer As Earth Continues to Heat Up

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Over the next several decades, the climate is going to continue to get warmer according to a recently leaked report, but also suffering will be the world's food supply.

The New York Times reported that a draft of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) new report on the subject has been leaked and the scientists said some areas are already experiencing the negative effects.

The report could still be changed before its release in March, but it stated that food demand is likely to increase while the supply will be hurt, causing the price to soar. As a result, local economies will also be hurt by the climate change.

In most cases, crops around the world will not be able to thrive in warmer conditions, but the report also noted that some regions will actually benefit. The IPCC estimated a two percent drop in crop production every decade this century.

Jonathan Lynn, an IPCC spokesman, confirmed to Bloomberg Businessweek that the draft had been sent to the various governments, but that it was not finished.

"This report is still a work in progress, so we don't have anything to say," Lynn said. "It's likely to undergo further changes in the approval plenary in March."

Donna Laframboise is a Canadian journalist and author of essays critical of the IPCC. She is also the author of the No Frakking Conesus blog, where she recently wrote she believed the IPCC should officially release the leaked draft of the report.

"The IPCC believes this document should remain secret," Laframboise wrote in the post, which included a copy of the leaked document. "I think the public has a right to examine it. It's important to be able to compare what IPCC personnel have written in this draft to what the final, non-draft version will say when it's released to much fanfare next March."

The official copy is set to be revised by government representatives line for line at a meeting in Yokohama, Japan March 25-28. Afterwards, it will be officially released through the IPCC.

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