Poznan scare-fest ramps up

I think Poznan may well turn into a bit of a competition to see who can come up with the most outrageous scare story. IPCC head Rajendra Pachauri is the reigning champion, and you'll have to be pretty good to oust him from the top spot.

HALF of humanity could face water shortages by 2050 if the world lets the financial crisis distract it from fighting global warming, a key UN climate change summit of more than 185 countries has been told.
...
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change chairman Rajendra Pachauri told an opening meeting that many people had still not woken up to the risks of climate change if the world failed to act.

He cited projections that the number of people living in river valleys and facing water stress could quadruple from more than 1.1 billion in 1995 to more than 4.3 billion by 2050, that a third of species could face extinction, that the Greenland and west Antarctic ice sheets could melt, triggering massive sea-level rises.

It's all so last year. But what's happened to Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister? In October, he was standing firm against the EU emissions nonsense (see here), but now appears to be a card-carrying IPCC disciple:

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told summit delegates the economic downturn was no excuse not to tackle climate change.

Is this the same Donald Tusk who said the following, in respect of Poland's dependence on coal?

“We don’t say to the French that they have to close down their nuclear power industry and build windmills, and nobody can tell us the equivalent.”

Who knows. I think they must put something in the water. More of the same tomorrow, no doubt.

Read it here.