Taking Action in Response to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Adaptation and Vulnerability

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This is a report of the closing remarks by Lynn Featherstone to the meeting on agriculture, jobs, food security and climate in response to the most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Unmitigated climate change poses great risks to human health, global food security, and economic development and the effects are already widespread. Mitigation is the only real, long term, solution to reducing emissions and avoiding dangerous climate change. Something needs to be done, and done urgently to avert a crisis.

Climate change is an extra burden for those living in poverty. Floods and droughts continue to cause suffering. These affect livelihoods by reducing crop yields as well as destroying homes. The UK is spending up to 50% of its International Climate Fund on helping poor communities adapt and become more resilient. Through the Fund it is focusing efforts on key areas including agriculture, food and water security.

The IPCC report states that warming of over 4°C will cause severe, pervasive and irreversible change. We must avoid this at all cost. Achieving a deal at a meeting in 2015 in Paris is seen as the first step towards a solution. The Government is working for an outcome which reduces emissions and keeps increases in the global average temperatures to under 2°C.

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