Nobel Laureate Praises Help from Medway Scientist
Professor John Morton of the University of Greenwich at Medway has been thanked for his contribution to a report on global warming which helped an international organisation win the Nobel Prize. This year it was jointly awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and American campaigner Al Gore for their work to tackle climate change.
Professor Morton, an expert on nomadic people and agriculture in tropical climates, contributed to the panel’s fourth report, published earlier this year. It is considered the most authoritative report on climate change because it gathers expertise from across the world, is checked rigorously and approved by the world’s governments before publication.
Professor Morton from the university’s Natural Resources Institute was one of the 450 lead authors of the report who were in turn supported by several thousand researchers. Dr Rajendra Pachauri, IPCC chair, wrote to the authors saying: “This makes each of you a Nobel Laureate…The fact that the IPCC has earned the recognition…is really a tribute to your knowledge, hard work and application.”
Professor Morton says: “This is a tribute to the collective international effort by scientists and social scientists to review the complex potential impacts of climate change and the ways humanity can respond.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said there may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states, because of competition for reduced resources as a result of climate change. And it praised the IPCC: “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.”
Professor John Humphreys, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research & Enterprise at the University of Greenwich says: “We are delighted that this work by Professor John Morton at our Natural Resources Institute has been recognised. It demonstrates the international standard of research that is taking place at our Medway campus.”
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