Cancún climate talks 'vital to UK'

Cancún climate talks 'vital to UK': "

Caroline Spelman, the UK's environment secretary, says we are already feeling the effects of climate change and must adapt fast

• Cameron: UK is prepared to act on its own over climate change

As representatives from almost 200 countries meet in Cancún, Mexico, this week to discuss a global deal on reducing emissions, last month's floods in Cornwall reminded us at home why this is such an important goal.

Visiting Cornwall I saw for myself the devastating damage the flooding caused to homes and businesses alike. I saw too that, despite the valiant efforts of communities themselves, the Environment Agency and many insurers, it will be months before life returns to normal.

It may not be possible to tell whether climate change was the cause of this particular flood, but the latest UK Climate Projections show that unchecked greenhouse gas emissions will only lead to more of the same.

Lessons from Copenhagen have been learned – developing economies must be supported in their transition to economic growth, social development and environmental protection. The UK government's commitment to international climate finance alone stands at nearly £3bn over the next five years.

Without this kind of support, climate change will have even greater impacts in developing countries and the UK will feel pressure on our food supplies and the trade networks that support our economy.

But whatever is eventually agreed, either at Cancún or subsequently, we are already feeling the effects of climate change and we must adapt to them – now and for the future.

Nine out of the past 10 years have now brought serious flooding to the UK. In its 2004 report, A Changing Climate for Insurance (no longer online), the Association of British Insurers pointed out that claims from storm and flood damages doubled to more than £6bn between 1998 and 2003 – with the prospect of this tripling by 2050.

The summer floods of 2007 alone left a bill of more than £3bn of insured damage. But the impacts of climate change, of course, are not limited to flooding.

The past decade has been the warmest on record, and this summer saw the National Farmers Union warn that the driest first six months in almost 70 years has hit domestic wheat production particularly badly.

UK temperatures are now an average of 1c higher than they were just 40 years ago. That doesn't sound like much, but the 2003 heatwave which caused the premature deaths of up to 2,000 in the UK was only 2c hotter than the summer average. These risks need to be managed.

Part of my job is making sure the UK adapts to these challenges and becomes more resilient to them. How radical we need to be in the longer term depends largely on how successful we are in reducing emissions and stabilising temperatures. That's why efforts such as those being made in Cancún are so important – without a global deal to halt rising temperatures the work we'll need to do will be more extreme and cost us more.

Unless we boost our efforts to mitigate and adapt, our future could involve thousands of roads being resurfaced to cope with higher temperatures or dug up to provide bigger storm drains while offices close at noon because the heat is too intense. Far fetched? Not really – the experiences of other countries show that extreme measures sometimes need to be taken if temperatures are not brought under control.

That's why supporting a strong and sustainable green economy – resource efficient and resilient to climate change – is one of my department's key priorities. That's also why we're putting climate change at the heart of the forthcoming white papers on the natural environment and water, and carrying out the UK's first climate change risk assessment.

And we'll have an even better idea of the future challenges to our food systems when the Foresight project on Global Food and Farming Futures – sponsored by the Department for International Development and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – reports early next year.

The time for speculation about climate change is over. Its impact– and the escalating costs of adapting to it – await us down the road if we don't, together, make it a priority now.

Whatever happens at Cancún, we need to speed up the pace of adaptation at home. Mitigating the causes of climate change and adapting to its effects are now two sides of the same coin."