Joint Day of Action on Climate Change in Thailand
The EU delegation, the British Embassy and the German Embassy have been combining forces to make today a Joint Day of Action on Climate Change.
A joint event has been hosted with Thailand’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to highlight the need to take urgent, sustained and collective action globally if countries are to meet the internationally-agreed target of keeping global temperature rise below two degrees; and to emphasise the risks they all face if they don’t act, or if they don’t act quickly enough.
Climate change is a real and urgent threat for the whole world. Its impacts are already being felt, with extreme weather events affecting human lives and economies, and the risk of flooding from sea level rise increasing. Without sustained and collective action to reduce carbon emissions, climate change will bring ever greater risks to human health, global food prices and economic development. That is why working together towards a new global, legally-binding deal in the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)negotiations in Paris next year is so important.
To illustrate more clearly the risks the world faces from climate change, at the event the British Embassy Bangkok has also showcased the UK Meteorological Office’s new Human Dynamics of Climate Change tool. This tool models changes in temperature and water availability in all regions of the world, including South East Asia, to 2100.
For South East Asia, the projections are particularly alarming:
- a 4 degree increase in temperature,
- a 77% increase in flood-prone land area,
- a 5% increase in drought days and
- an 8% decrease in water availability for irrigation.
Further information
Follow British Ambassador Mark Kent on twitter @KentBKK