The dangers of climate change: Voice of Russia

Interview with Aleksei Kokorin, Director of the Climate Programme at the World Wildlife Foundation in Moscow

[Q] The UN is holding a climate change conference starting today, and we’ll be talking about the effects we have – cars, and other gas-emitting vehicles. Do you agree that the violent weather can be a warning for climate change?

Yes, of course, because what we have is a direct impact of global economy on the composition of the atmosphere – that is increased concentration of carbon dioxide is completely proved, as well as of dust and aerosols in the atmosphere. As an indirect effect we have alterations in the climate, which is growing more extreme. It’s not marine or continental climate – it’s more extreme climate. The frequency and intensity of natural calamities are abnormally high.
...in any event, you have a portion of anthropogenic and a portion of natural continuation to it. For example, airplanes produce additional clouds high in the atmosphere. These clouds are completely anthropogenic, and they change temperature, particularly at night. Tornados are a mixture of anthropogenic and natural causes. Moreover, anthropogenic effects, especially greenhouse gas emissions, initiate intensive natural alterations. Therefore, it’s very difficult to distinguish between natural and anthropogenic causes in a majority of cases. But, even if anthropogenic impact isn’t large and amounts to 10-20%, it’s still additional and therefore significant.
...statistics, particularly in Russia, indicates that we will have twice this number of abnormal hydrometeorological situations in 15 years. It’s a dangerous tendency, even if we have no clear prognoses and know no definite reasons for that.