Activists call for climate emergency declaration
Members of the Extinction Rebellion (XR) climate campaign’s Fort William branch are among those from across the Highlands and Islands calling on Highland Council to formally declare a climate emergency.
One Fort William XR branch co-ordinator, Andrew Squire, told the Lochaber Times the current plans to tackle climate change were not enough.
‘We are living way beyond the resource means of our planet and the world is on track to overshoot the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C global warming limit before 2030 – that is in just 11 years – which will cause dire effects for civilisation and the natural world and could trigger ecological collapse and mass extinction. No sane person would allow their children or grandchildren to go anywhere with such risks – and that includes the future.’
Mr Squire said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had said limiting global warming to 1.5°C may still be possible, with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector, indigenous peoples and communities.
‘But the current plans and actions are not enough. There is an urgent need to sound the alarm and dramatically ramp up action at every level, including local government.
‘Bold climate action can also deliver economic benefits in terms of new jobs, economic savings and market opportunities as well as improved well-being for people worldwide.
‘This is particularly true for Scotland, which has massive untapped potential for renewable energy.
‘Councils around the world are responding by declaring a ‘climate emergency’ and committing resources to address it.
‘By February 2019, 392 councils across the world, covering 34 million citizens, had made that declaration. XR is asking Highland Council to join them.’
Asked what campaigners would like to see if the local authority did declare a climate emergency, Mr Squire said: ‘What Highland Council would actually do, having made the declaration, is the big question. Words are the easy bit.
‘That’s partly why we also want a citizens’ assembly to be set up, to work alongside the council.’