KEY RISKS AHEAD...
you can’t do anything for them. There’s the walking wounded and then the people you can help.
“States are going to have to start looking at giving pretty little towns back to the sea.
“We know from the figures we are going to see a lot more climate refugees - people who can’t stay where they are because of [spreading] desert, storm surges, increased heatwaves.
“Europe seems to be becoming disgracefully much more anti-refugee.
“The solution seems to be to pay Turkey... [which] houses millions of refugees that are coming into Europe.
“Is that the strategy? Build walls and become a much more hostile environment for refugees?
“If we think what’s happening around right wing, localised protesting against refugees... that will be a drop in the ocean in years to come.
“Rich countries have to start getting much more humanitarian... to deal with the flow of migrants that are coming northwards because of the climate crisis.”
But flooding is perhaps the most urgent climate risk Irish communities face and its impacts in towns like Midleton, Rosslare, Carlingford, Newry and Downpatrick are already costing tens of millions.
Marine Institute oceanographer, Glenn Nolan, said: “We had flooding in Galway in November and we got a storm surge on top of the water level you would expect.
It added about 1.6 metres to the tide.
“The sea level component is a bit more of a long term thing... because oceans are getting water and additional fresh water, coming because of melting ice caps.
“Since the 1850s we’ve seen about half a metre of sea level rise... and the prediction for the future is about another metre of sea level rise this century if we don’t cut greenhouse gas emissions.
“That 1.5 metres you then have to put on top of the standard tide and you also have to superimpose tidal surge on top of that.
“Then it starts to become a very serious prospect in terms of coastal populations, zoning of land and where people live in the future.”
In a bid to prepare and adapt to risks associated with climate change, the Irish government has issued and commissioned a number of reports including the National Adaptation Framework and the EPA’s National Climate Change Risk Assessment “to provide insights into the solutions needed”.
Councils have also developed their own Local Authority Climate Action Plans while the Office of Public Works has been given hundreds of millions to help them address flooding “where a solution can be readily identified and achieved in a short time frame”.
Climate, energy and transport minister, Eamon Ryan, recently launched the future framework for offshore renewables to pave the path towards net-zero to supplement groundbreaking solar and retrofitting schemes and a push to make transport less polluting.
The Climate Change Advisory Council also advises how Ireland can make the transition to a climate resilient, biodiversity rich, environmental sustainable and climate neutral future.
Its chair Marie Donnelly says the CCAC has been looking at sustainable food production and energy security, which was highlighted as a risk in Climate Action Plans.
Secure
“Today, Ireland is food secure but we are not food independent because we are integrated into the European Union and global food system,” she explained.
“In terms of the agricultural sector... we are aware of a high rate of beef and dairy in the country.
“We feel farmers’ income needs to be diversified... organic farming, forestry [and] other activities in the energy space.
“Farmers are a pivotal part of rural Ireland and our concern is that we maintain farming as a viable entity going into the future.”