MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

British Antarctic Survey participating at the UN COP27 convention in Egypt

BAS scientists are talking at this year’s COP27 climate talks about the effects of a changing environment in the Polar Regions and the Southern Ocean.

British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientists will participate in the 27th session of the United Nations National Framework Convention on Climate Change, hosted by the Arab Republic of Egypt until 18 November 2022 at the Sharm el-Sheikh International Convention Centre.

BAS scientists in the fields of glaciology, oceanography, ecology and climate change will participate in COP27, by giving talks throughout the meeting in the Ocean and Cryosphere Pavilions, which are housed in the Blue Zone.

Professor Mike Meredith is a senior oceanographer and head of the Polar Oceans team at British Antarctic Survey. He was author on an assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2019, the UN body assessing the science related to climate change. The IPCC reports are key to international climate change negotiations and provide governments around the world and at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies.

The UN's World Meteorological Organization, (WMO) published an assessment on the first day of COP27 to highlight how the last eight years have been among the hottest on record and how the climate crisis continues to be a major problem for society.

Professor Mike Meredith responded to the WMO’s assessment. He says: “The messages in this report could barely be bleaker – all over our planet, records are being shattered as different parts of the climate system begin to break down. The loss of ice in the Polar Regions and high mountains is especially alarming as the impacts on people, societies and economies are huge. If this doesn’t focus the minds of the global leaders at Cop27, I don’t know what will.”

Climate scientist Dr Ella Gilbert from British Antarctic Survey explained, “The latest WMO report shows that the cryosphere is in crisis, with glaciers shrinking, Arctic sea ice in dramatic decline and rain recorded on the Greenland ice sheet for the first time. This year’s unprecedented heat and extreme weather is another reminder of the urgency of action to limit warming to 1.5°C. The polar regions may seem far from COP27 in Egypt, but this report shows that the poles are closer than we think, impacting sea level and water resources worldwide.”