Head
Office Press Office - 19-Sep-2006 - "Adaptation
must be at the heart of the UK’s strategy for
living with the unavoidable climate change we
will inevitably face over the coming decades."
That is the message the Environment Agency Board
will hear and discuss when they meet at the Clwyd
Theatr Cymru in Mold, Flintshire, Wales, on Wednesday
20 September 2006.
"We must learn to adapt
to the unavoidable consequences of climate change,"
said Environment Agency Chairman Sir John Harman.
"Limiting and adapting to climate change
is a key theme running through all of our activities.
We have placed climate change at the heart of
our planning, management and operational activities,
especially flood defence and water resources.
"Most of the threat in
the UK over the next 40 years comes from the impacts
of flooding, droughts and extreme weather events.
While we must do everything to reduce the risks
by cutting emissions, there is already significant
warming built into the climate system and even
the most ambitious emissions reductions only start
to make real differences to the rate of warming
later this century. In other words, adaptation
to climate change, now, is a necessity and it
is how we will make a real difference to how much
harm is done by climate change in the next few
decades.
"The Environment Agency
strongly supports ambitious targets and measures
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to control
the risks we will eventually face, but we must
also strengthen our efforts to deal with climate
change as it happens.
"What is needed now to
protect society is real practical work on the
ground such as expansion of flood risk management
investment, well-designed coastal realignment,
controlling water demand, planning water infrastructure
to deal with more variable rainfall and thinking
carefully about land use and farming. The Environment
Agency needs to be at the heart of this work.
"While the practical work
is carried out, the scientific and technological
research needs to continue. Without a thorough
scientific understanding of the future challenges
associated with climate change, technological
advances and changing lifestyles, we will not
be prepared to manage future environmental problems."
The Environment Agency Board
will meet on Wednesday, September 20, 2006, from
10.30am to 3.30pm in the Clwyd Room, Clwyd Theatr
Cymru, Mold, and is open to the public.
The agenda can be discussed
with Environment Agency Chairman Sir John Harman
and the board members between 9.30am and 10.30am
in the Main Bar of Clwyd Theatr Cymru.
The agenda and board papers
can be found on the Environment Agency website
