This page will bring you special papers which are published from time to time. Some will be publicly available, others are for P&SC members only - these will include extended versions of articles published in Science in Parliament and also many presentations (usually in either PDF or Powerpoint format) from P&SC meetings.

ARCTIC METHANE EMERGENCY
It has been reported in the December 2011 meeting of the American Geophysical Union that the rate of escape of methane from the East Siberian Shelf (in the Arctic Ocean) has increased dramatically within the last two years. If substantiated, this would add greatly to the greenhouse effect and thus to global warming. It is part of a positive feedback process related to break-up of the Arctic sea ice, and appears to be happening several decades before it was expected to start. An ad hoc emergency group has been formed, to lobby for urgent national and international action, to confirm the science and to develop potential geo-engineering countermeasures. They have prepared a briefing document which may be downloaded from here..
The P&SC website manager has also prepared a short article for publication in Science in Parliament summarising the problem, which may be downloaded from here.
Further information from the AMEG web site. It should be notes that the opinions expressed in these documents are those of their respective authors and do not necessarily represent those of the P&SC.

"Why No Thought for Food?", A UK Parliamentary Inquiry into Global Food Security, January 2010.
This is the final version of a Food Security Inquiry, formally launched in Parliament in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Room by the Agriculture and Food for Development All Party Group, before a packed audience on Wednesday 27 Jan. At the launch it was emphasised by the Co-Chair, David Curry MP, that the Food Security Inquiry had been initiated by Ian Gibson MP in October 2008 in the course of a post Discussion Meeting Dinner of the Parliamentary & Scientific Committee on the subject of Food Security, which he had Chaired, and is also subsequently referred to in his article in the SiP Spring 2010 edition.
More detailed information is available from http://agricultureandfoodfordevelopment.org/inquiry.html