Yuri Izrael

Yuri A. Izrael (born 1930 in Russia) is a vice-chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). [cite web |url=http://www.ipcc.ch/about/bureau.htm |title=IPCC Bureau |accessdate=2007-05-25 |work=About IPCC |publisher=Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] He is the "most influential scientific adviser" for Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, according to CNN.cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/10/16/column.novak.opinion.russian/ |title=The Russian didn't bark |accessdate=2007-05-25 |last=Novak |first=Robert |authorlink=Robert Novak |date=2003-10-16 |publisher=CNN]

Izrael is a former chairman of the Committee for Hydrometeorology. He also served as director of the Institute of Global Climate and Ecology, which is apart of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was a former first vice-president of the World Meteorological Organization and helped develop World Weather Watch.cite web |url=http://www.unep.org/sasakawa/previous/Laureates/cowinner92.asp |title=The Achievements of the Laureates |accessdate=2007-05-25 |work=UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize (1992) |publisher=United Nations Environment Programme |year=2004]

In 1992, Izrael won the UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize for, among other accomplishments, contributing to the "success of Working Group I I" of the IPCC.

Views on the Kyoto Protocol

Izrael believes the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty aimed at reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, is not scientifically supported and damaging for the Russian economy, [cite news |title=Academician Izrael: Kyoto Protocol economically hazardous to Russia |url=http://newsfromrussia.com/world/2004/07/17/55051.html |publisher=RIA Novosti |date=2004-07-17 |accessdate=2007-05-25] stating, "the Kyoto Protocol is overly expensive, ineffective and based on bad science." [cite web |url=http://www.cei.org/gencon/003,03694.cfm |title=Global Warming Shakeup in Moscow. Scientific Conference Signals Sea Change in Climate Debate |accessdate=2007-05-25 |date=2003-10-09 |format=cfm |publisher=Competitive Enterprise Institute]

Views on global warming

In dissenting with the scientific opinion on climate change, Izrael has stated, "climate change is obvious, but science has not yet been able to identify the causes of it," [cite web |url=http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050705/40849163.html |title=The G8 weather report |accessdate=2007-05-25 |last=Sinitsina |first=Tatyana |publisher=RIA Novosti |date=2005-07-05] and, "there is no proven link between human activity and global warming."cite web |url=http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050623/40748412.html |title=Climate change: not a global threat |accessdate=2007-05-25 |last=Izrael |first=Yuri A. |publisher=RIA Novosti |date=2005-06-23] This seems to contrast the IPCC conclusion that "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is "very likely" [confidence level >90%] due to the observed increase in anthropogenic [human] greenhouse gas concentrations." [cite web | url=http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf | format=PDF | title=Summary for Policymakers | work=Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change | accessdate=2007-02-02 | date=2007-02-05 | publisher=Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]

Izrael agrees with the IPCC predictions for future climate change, stating, "Global temperatures will likely rise by 1.4-5.8 degrees during the next 100 years. The average increase will be three degrees. I do not think that this threatens mankind. Sea levels, due to rise by 47 cm in the 21st century, will not threaten port cities." He also states, "I think the panic over global warming is totally unjustified. There is no serious threat to the climate," and, "There is no need to dramatize the anthropogenic impact, because the climate has always been subject to change under Nature's influence, even when humanity did not even exist." Additionally, he does not believe the 0.6 °C (1.08 °F) rise in temperature observed in the last 100 years is a threat, stating, "there is no scientifically sound evidence of the negative processes that allegedly begin to take place at such temperatures."

Instead of decreasing carbon dioxide, he argues, aerosol injections in to the stratosphere would be a more effective way to mitigate global warming. [cite web |url=http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20070418/63856919.html |title=Climate: putting panic in perspective |accessdate=2007-05-25 |last=Izrael |first=Yuri |date=2007-04-18 |publisher=RIA Novosti] He appears to favor adaption over mitigation, arguing, "The people of Bangladesh, who live at sea level, may face problems if the Indian Ocean rises. Still, their resettlement would be much cheaper than projected Kyoto Protocol expenses."

Criticism

Izrael was chairman of the State Committee on Hydrometeorology ("Goskomgidromet") at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Following the accident he was widely criticized for slow and inaccurate monitoring. He was also criticized for allowing air pollution throughout the USSR to reach unprecedented levels. [cite journal| last=Robinson | first=Nicholas A. |year=1989 | month=January | title=Soviet Environmental Protection: The Challenge for Legal Studies | journal=Pace Environmental Law Review | volume=7 | issue= | pages=117–150 | url=http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1382&context=lawfaculty | format=PDF | accessdate=2008-02-14] In a 2004 article published in "Nature", Quirin Schiermeier and Bryon MacWilliams referred to him as a "fossil communist fighting for fossil fuel." [cite journal| last=Schiermeier | first=Quirin | coauthors=MacWilliams, Bryon | date=2004-09-01 | title= Climate change: Crunch time for Kyoto | journal=Nature | volume=431 | issue=7004 | pages=12–13 |doi=10.1038/431012a | url=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v431/n7004/full/431012a.html | accessdate=2008-02-14]

ee also

*Global warming controversy
*Scientists opposing the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming

References

Persondata
NAME=Izrael, Yuri A.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=vice-chair of the IPCC
DATE OF BIRTH=1930
PLACE OF BIRTH=Russia
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=