(from The New York Times, 5/9/89, p. C4)

BRITISH URGE RAPID ACTION [ON WARMING]

By Paul Lewis
Special to The New York Times

UNITED NATIONS, May 8 -- Britain today called for the rapid
drafting of a new international convention to deal with the
problem of global warming, saying rising temperatures could lead
to disruption of normal life, political tension and war.

The British Government suggested in a statement to the United
Nations that countries should agree as soon as possible on a
convention that would set out broad "guidelines for good climatic
behavior."

More specific binding protocols dealing with the global warming
problem could then be approved as scientific understanding
advances and a consensus develops on what action is needed.

Britain's position was outlined by its Permanent Representative
at the United Nations, Sir Crispin Tickell, in a speech to the
United Nations Economic and Social Council.  He said his
Government decided to press for rapid action on global warming
after a daylong seminar organized on April 26 by Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher at her official residence and attended by
ministers, scientists and industrialists.

Sir Crispin said that even though great uncertainties still exist
about global warming, the Downing Street meeting concluded that
there was no time to waste in planning international action to
cope with a problem of such scale and complexity which could
disrupt "the intricate web of life on a scale now hard to
imagine."

At a news conference, Sir Crispin warned that rising world
temperatures and climatic change threaten world peace because
they could lead to disputes and wars over fresh water and arable
land and create a whole new class of "environmental refugees"
fleeing land that could no longer sustain them.
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