Galway could be one of worst affected areas from climate change

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Galway is predicted to be one of the worst affected areas in the country unless climate change trends are checked and reversed.

Senator Pauline O’Reilly said the report of the United Nations IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) published this week had major implications for Galway.

She said that a number of respected climatologists had over recent months warned that five Irish centres – Galway, Clare, Limerick, Louth and Dublin – would be most at risk from the impact of climate change.

The international lPCC report warned that the evidence was unequivocal that human activity was warming up the planet, causing rapid and widespread changes to land, the atmosphere and the oceans.

Senator O’Reilly said that the IPCC’s role was to provide politicians with assessments every six to seven years on the science, the impacts and the potential options for tackling climate change.

“It’s expected that the short, 40-page summary for policymakers will play an important role in guiding global leaders who will come to Glasgow in November to deal with critical climate questions.

“In recent months, a number of respected climatologists have expressed fears that the impact of climate change is more severe than had previously been predicted,” said Senator O’Reilly.

She said that there were very serious alarm bells being rang in the IPCC report and the findings of other climatologists. These included:

■ Research conducted by mapping and data consultants last year indicated that more than 62,000 Irish homes are at risk from coastal flooding by 2050 due to climate change.

■ Dublin, Louth, Clare, Limerick and Galway are considered the most at risk, with more than 21,000 homes and almost 2,000 businesses at risk in the capital alone.
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