United Nations experts have agreed on a 20-page draft report which warns of the effects of climate change, and that they might well be permanent. Another 70-page document was due to be approved later Friday, with both to be officially released Saturday by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

"I think the final agreement will be reached this afternoon and after this, no politician will be able to argue that they don't know what is happening," said Han Verolme, Director of the WWF conservation group's Climate Change Programme, quoted by Reuters. "Very strong language from the IPCC will require governments to take strong action," Verolme further said. "The ball is in the politicians' court."

Apparently, the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns of abrupt or irreversible climate changes and impacts, as it summarizes three massive documents issued earlier this year covering the evidence for climate change; the present and possible future impacts of it; and the options for tackling the peril.

Thousands of pages of research have been compressed into the two reports by the 40 scientists who worked at drafting them. Delegates were shown evidence from all around the globe that climate changes are very real and very significant. US delegates however tried to tone down the document by alleging, for example, that the melting of glaciers or ice sheets was not "irreversible" as ice could eventually reform. Their reasoning was mocked by other representatives.

By 2100, global average surface temperatures could rise by up to 11.52 F compared to 1980-99 levels, while sea levels could rise by up to 23.2 inches, according to the IPCC's forecast, both with dire consequences.

"The scientists have done their job. They certainly deserved the Nobel Prize. Now the question is, what are the policymakers going to do with it?" said Hans Verolme, of the World Wide Fund for Nature, one of the environmental groups acting as observers.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) won this year's Nobel Peace Prize alongside climate campaigner and former US vice president Al Gore. Its reports draw on the research of thousands of scientists which is reviewed by about 2,500 experts, then distilled and drafted by several hundred authors.