The way to reach global sustainable development

After more than 30-years of research on global climate change, Ye Duzheng won the 48th IMO (International Meteorological Organization) Prize in 2003 for his concept of "Orderly Human Activities."

"The science of climate change didn't get full awareness for a long while and it used to be seen as contradiction to economic development," Ye said.

But after past decades, the assumption that human activities, particularly the release of significant amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, are leading to global warming is basically confirmed by climate models.

"Scientists won't say it's 100 percent true since any experiments have uncertainties, but global warming is becoming a more and more urgent issue," Ye said. "In this case, scientific research is offering a best way to figure out the issue."

"There has been a 0.6-degree centigrade increase in global and ocean temperatures since the early 1990s, and what will happen by increasing 0.1 degree? People need to draw on simulated experiments to do the research," he said. Also, "when linking to the economy, how much we might lose if we decrease GDP by one percent to reduce emissions?"

"We need to put all these documents on the table," he said.

He also said that small island countries performed most actively at the conference, because they have seen the future if they don't take actions against climate change.

But for the ones which don't take it seriously, they need to find out from the research if they ignore the issue now, how much more they will suffer in the future. As Ye explained, when looking at all the strong evidence, all countries could and should have a plan for the long term.