Al Gore and IPCC win Nobel peace prize
Friday, 12 Oct 2007 20:10
Al Gore won an Oscar for his documentary An Inconvenient Truth
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Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have been jointly awarded the 2007 Nobel peace prize, it was announced this morning.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee (NNC) said the award recognises "their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change".
By awarding the prestigious prize to environmental activists, the NNC said it is seeking to focus people's attention on the need to address global warming.
"Action is necessary now, before climate change moves beyond man's control," an NNC statement said.
Al Gore won an Oscar for his documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which brought climate change to the forefront of people's minds and is to be shown in UK schools.
The former US vice president also helped to organise this summer's global Live Earth concerts, which gained the support of numerous high profile celebrities and musicians and are said to have been watched by two billion people in over 100 countries.
Since 1988 the IPCC has assessed scientific research on human-induced climate change, providing objective reports on the threat posed, if any, by global warming.
It has concluded that the Earth's temperature could rise by 4.5C unless action is taken to prevent global warming.
"Through the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades, the IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming," the NNC said.
"By awarding the Nobel peace prize for 2007 to the IPCC and Al Gore, the NNC is seeking to contribute to a sharper focus on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to protect the world’s future climate, and thereby to reduce the threat to the security of mankind," a statement said. "Action is necessary now, before climate change moves beyond man's control."