Global warming - Time to act on climate change is now

THE urgent need for Ireland to plan ahead for the negative impacts of global warming was graphically illustrated at the weekend when over a month’s rainfall was dumped on some parts of the country in 24 hours.

There could hardly be a more dramatic scene setter for yesterday’s report on climate change from the Marine Institute which gives a national context to some of the biggest environmental problems facing humanity.

By any yardstick, global warming promises to have major repercussions for Ireland. As the Earth enters a new period of climate change, the report predicts the seas around our coast will get warmer.