Health of planet’s seas is a pressing concern

IT NOW seems that despite COP26 last November, and all the fine words and promises by politicians who attended, given current circumstances there is almost zero chance that the 1.5°C goal will be met by 2030.

Missing this target will mean more heatwaves, droughts and extreme weather events at greater economic losses and costs. A primary reason is a lack of political will and corporate leadership. If the situation doesn’t change we can see a rise in sea levels of 2ft by 2100 and this will affect people living in Wales. The seas are also changing, and rising CO2 levels are causing acidification of our oceans and seas and marine life. Oceans cover around 70% of Earth’s surface and were hardly ever mentioned in climate change talks until now.

Last week’s United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon issued a declaration on protecting our seas against exploitation and restoring their health from acidification and other pollutants such as plastic pollution, where according to the UN Environment Programme, a garbage truck load of plastic is dumped in our oceans each minute.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated: “Today we face what I would call an ocean emergency”, describing how seas have been hammered by climate change and pollution and that humanity depends on healthy seas.

Wales has a big coastline where rivers flow into both the Irish Sea and Bristol Channel. Welsh rivers affected by plastic and other pollutants only add to the problem. We must all take individual and corporate responsibility to protect our seas in our own area by preventing plastic pollution from entering the sea as well as reducing our CO2 footprint. Local government can play a major role by using less CO2 in building projects as it’s CO2 from fossil fuels and cement that causes acidification of our seas and oceans, or reusing existing buildings.

David Wood Landore, Swansea

If the situation doesn’t change we can see a rise in sea levels of 2ft by 2100 and this will affect people in Wales

Royal Family at £2 a head is great value

David Wood

I was aghast at the report about the cost of running the Royal Family, and the resulting howls from buttonheads for the abolition of the monarchy.

It costs £100m to run the monarchy. There are about 55 million taxpayers in Great Britain. So the monarchy costs less than £2 per taxpayer per year. A bargain. You can’t buy a pint of beer for that amount these days; it cost me more than that to raise a dram of Bunnahabhain to Her Majesty on Platinum Jubilee night. The sum of £2 would buy just about enough petrol to get off the garage forecourt, or it would pay for less than 1% of a TV licence – and the Royal Family give us more entertainment, not always intentionally, than the entire output of the BBC.

Furthermore, if the monarchy were abolished, the alternative would be a republic. Does anyone really want the appalling prospect of Commissar Drakeford and Commissar Starmer, both unable to define what a woman is, running the country?

Here’s my £2, Your Majesty, long may you reign.

Ian McNicholas

Ebbw Vale