In eye of ‘storm’ - Climate change

CONSIDERING we are an island nation, Irish coasts are among the most vulnerable in the world to climate change.

Ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which is to be held in Paris next month, a seminar on the topic, held in Bray, Co Wicklow, at the weekend, revealed the extent of our vulnerability, as an island off an island.

As the seminar’s host, MEP Sean Kelly noted, rising sea levels, increased precipitation and flood risks would prove hugely costly, both socially and economically.

A keynote address at the Paris conference will be given by Britain’s Prince Charles, who believes that climate change could be one of the causes of the civil war in Syria, of terrorism, and of Europe’s refugee crisis.

One of the reasons for the civil war in Syria is a drought that has lasted for almost six years and which has meant the exodus of huge numbers of people from their parched land.

Often derided as a tree-hugging fanatic, the prince’s fears are well-grounded and we ignore them at our peril.