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Climate change is a major challenge
22nd February 2005
Climate change is widely recognised as the most significant environmental challenge facing society this century delegates at Plaid Cymru"s Spring Conference in Caernarfon were told at the weekend.
“The 1990"s was the warmest decade in the warmest century of the last millennium and the planet may never have warmed as fast as it has in the last 25 years. It is now generally accepted that gases emitted from burning coal and other fossil fuels are the most likely reason for the past 25 years of warming” said Meic Davies, Flood Defence Manager with Environment Agency Wales who was speaking at a fringe meeting organised by the Agency at the Conference.
“We have to expect changing weather patterns and more extreme events. We have seen problems from floods, droughts and heatwaves around the globe - these will get worse and become more frequent. The Agency"s responsibilities include managing flood risk and we are in the front line of dealing with the major impacts of climate change.
“Here in Wales the flooding in the Conwy Valley last month has made us more aware of the wider issues. We have to accept flooding risk increases and we need to invest more, to warn existing households and stop building in flood plains. The Agency considers the impact of climatic change when building flood defenses and is continuing to improve its flood warning system.
“Ensuring energy efficiency and reducing the use of fossil fuels is now a main requirement in our regulation of industry. Significant reductions in emissions from large industrial processes regulated by the Agency mean that industry is now a relatively small contributor to total air emissions of many pollutants.
“Road traffic emissions are the main reason for 92% of the designated air quality "hotspots" in Wales and better controls on transport, particularly road vehicles, will be needed to meet air quality targets in the future.”
