Reply #3: Geir Lunestad

[Uncle Joe]

"Separately, the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute defended the 2007 award from critics who say that climate change has too little to do with peacemaking as envisaged by Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will.

"The Nobel Committee has always had a broad definition of peace," Geir Lundestad wrote in the daily Aftenposten.

"When seas rise, the number of climate refugees could quickly rise," Lundestad said. "When glaciers melt, rivers will be reduced or even dry out. The lack of resources will increase in parts of the world."

"All this will put weak states under great pressure," he said. "Drought and desertification have already led to the first 'climate wars' in Darfur and in the whole of the Sahel belt across Africa."

He also noted that the first prize, in 1901, was shared by Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross. Some people at the time argued that alleviating suffering had nothing to do with peace."

Thanks for the thread, Caro.