Former US vice-president Al Gore and the Rajendra K Pachauri-led Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have been awarded this year?s Nobel Peace Prize for disseminating knowledge on man-made climate change and the measures needed to confront it.

While Gore has been a self-styled ambassador for promoting awareness on climate change, even producing a documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, which went on to win an Oscar earlier this year, Pachauri has been heading the panel sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme and World Metrological Organisation since 2002.

Said a surprised Pachauri to FE: ?It feels good. The news has just come in. It will take a bit of time to sink in.? He added, ?I feel encouraged and more responsible. I feel I have to do more. At the IPCC, we have work in progress. There is a clear-cut programme of action.?

Pachauri, 67, who heads New Delhi-based The Energy Resource Institute (better known by its acronym Teri), was given charge of the IPCC when the US did not support the second term of its outspoken chairman Robert Watson. IPCC has been stressing the role of humans in causing global warming with evidence from 2,500 scientists from over 100 countries.

Brushing aside initial criticism of being promoted by the US oil lobby to go soft on climate change, Pachauri, who has doctorates in economics and engineering, came into his own, travelling the world to increase awareness about climate change and its impact, particularly on the poor and on those in low-lying countries. He has met with several heads of state and government to press home the IPCC?s findings.

Pachauri?s argument was reinforced by the Nobel Committee, which stated, ?They (climate changes) may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the Earth?s resources. Such changes will place particularly heavy burden on the world?s most vulnerable countries. There may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states.?

Said Pachauri, ?The debate will now move from whether climate change is caused by human activities or not, to how to deal with it. And it?s for governments to decide whether they want to listen to IPCC or not.?

He added, ?Similarly, businesses have to be part of the solution. They don?t live or function outside society. They have to play their part in fighting climate change.? The Nobel Prize couldn?t have come at a more opportune time for IPCC, which is preparing to release its new synthesis report next month.