Nobel Peace Prize Could Go to Climate Campaigner

[babylonsister]

Nobel Peace Prize Could Go to Climate Campaigner
by Alister Doyle



OSLO - The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize could go to a climate campaigner such as ex-U.S. Vice-President Al Gore or Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier, reinforcing a view that global warming is a threat to world security, experts say.

The winner of the $1.5 million prize, perhaps the world’s top accolade, will be announced in Oslo on October 12 from a field of 181 candidates. The prize can be split up to three ways.0918 09

“There are reasonably good chances that the peace prize will be awarded to someone working to stop the dramatic climate problems the world is facing,” said Boerge Brende, a former Norwegian environment minister.

He noted that the U.N. Security Council, the top forum for debating war and peace, held a first debate in April about how far climate changes such as droughts, heatwaves or rising seas will be a spur to conflicts.

“We have many good candidates for the prize and we are approaching a decision,” said Geir Lundestad, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute where the five-member committee meets.

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http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/18/3933/