When it comes to global warming, Nobel Peace Prize-winning scientist Mohan Munasinghe is sure of three things.

First, that it's happening; second, that humans are greatly contributing to its severity; and finally, that its effects will be the worst on the poor.

Justin Falls/Daily Advance (ENLARGE)

Mohan Munasinghe, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning scientist, discusses climate change at Elizabeth City State University, Monday.

Munasinghe, a Sri Lankan-born intellectual who is vice president of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, spoke Monday at Elizabeth City State University about the dangers of global warming, its causes and the possible solutions for reversing its effects.

Munasinghe is a world-recognized authority on the subject of global warming. In 2007, he had the distinction of sharing the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPCC with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore for their joint efforts disseminating information about global warming and ways to counteract it.

During his speech at the K.E. White Center on Monday, Munasinghe said human activity, specifically the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil, are responsible for the carbon dioxide emissions that have led to the gradual increase in the Earth's mean temperature over the last century. That increase, he said, is indicated by changes in our environment.

"Dry areas are getting dryer, wet areas are getting wetter, and changes in the flora and fauna all indicate that the Earth is warming," he said.

While this warming of the planet has had some positive effects — some colder parts of Canada, for example, are warmer — "the bad far outweighs the good," Munasinghe said.

Not everyone in Munasinghe's audience Monday agreed with him about global warming.

"I am in complete disagreement with your whole theory on climate change," Earnst Wilson, an assistant professor in the Department of Aviation Science, said. "I am not yet convinced that CO2 (carbon dioxide) is responsible for global warming."

Wilson pointed out that the sun and Earth are becoming closer in their orbits around one another, and that could be a leading cause of earth's warming.

But Munasinghe said that the change in orbits has been factored into the computer models tracking climate change.

"Increased solar radiation has already been included in models of global warming under 'natural forces,'" Munasinghe said. "There is a greater-than 90 percent probability that CO2 emissions have caused a .5 degree-temperature increase over the last 100 years. We feel that human intervention has added to what is already there naturally."

Though Munasinghe advocates burning fewer fossil fuels, he believes temperatures will continue to rise even if humans begin shifting to alternative fuels.

"Temperatures will rise no matter what we do now because the gunk is already there (in the atmosphere,)" he said.

The key thing to remember, Munasinghe said, is that changing our habits now will slow down the increase in global temperatures.

Many people in the United States question the cost of changing their way of life, Munasinghe said. But that cost, about .12 percent of the U.S.' gross national product per year, is negligible compared to the benefits, he said.

Because Munasinghe believes the poor will be the most adversely affected by global warming, leaders must exercise caution to ensure the poor aren't adversely hurt by the solutions to climate change.

"Rising energy prices will decrease greenhouse gasses," he said. "But it also limits the poor and their energy uses. You have to be very careful that you don't just blunder in without considering the consequences."

Munasinghe said sustainable development and climate change need not be mutually exclusive.

He also said the U.S. has a key role to play in leading the way for developing countries.

"I think (U.S.) citizens are overwhelmingly in favor of taking action against global warming," he said. "We expect much from the leadership of the U.S. in the future."

Munasinghe, chairman of the Munasinghe Institute for Development, is also a visiting professor at the United Nations University in Tokyo. He also has served as an honorary senior adviser to every administration of the Sri Lanka government since 1980.