News Date: Thursday 16th December 2004
WWF brings the Arctic to Westminster to highlight the threats of climate change
The Arctic experience was recreated in Westminster by WWF to raise a sense of urgency about the devastating impact climate change is having on people and places around the world. WWF invited an Arctic ?Climate Witness? called Mille Porsild to Victoria Tower Gardens - close to the House of Lords on Thursday 9th December ? and set the Arctic scene with a life-size igloo hand sculpted from ice and three Polar Huskies including a puppy.
Arctic explorer Mille Porsild, who measures the impact of global warming on the Arctic, met with Tim Loughton and other politicians to talk about the changing environment which is affecting people and wildlife in the Arctic.
The event marked the launch of WWF?s Climate Witnesses initiative, part of its new climate change campaign. WWF put a human face to climate change by raising awareness about how people across the UK and elsewhere have been affected by severe weather. It is predicted that extreme weather events such as the flooding in Boscastle and the landslide in Lochearnhead, Scotland, this year will become more frequent if climate change goes unchecked.
Matthew Davis, WWF Climate Change Campaign Leader for WWF-UK, said: "We are facing climate chaos. Severe and freak weather events are already affecting people in the UK and if CO2 levels aren?t drastically cut it?s been estimated that two million homes could be at risk from flooding and coastal erosion in the UK by the middle of the century.?
Tim Loughton commented:
?We are facing an increasingly worrying situation, whereby people are deluding themselves that freak weather conditions are nothing to worry about and are still apathetic about doing their bit for the environment.� We all need to work together by recycling more, saving energy and thinking about the environment if we are to save more vulnerable species from becoming extinct and prevent disastrous environmental consequences affecting us all.?
Matthew Davis added: ?With the Prime Minister?s presidencies of the G8 and the EU in 2005, the UK is in a unique position to take the global lead on climate change. But we must take immediate and credible action at home first if we are to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.?
ENDS
Note to Editors
WWF is now known simply by its initials and the panda logo.
WWF has tabled a parliamentary motion calling on the Government to honour its commitment to cut the UK?s CO2 emissions by 20% by 2010. It emphasises the crucial importance of ensuring that the global temperature stays below 2oC, the crucial tipping point for the environment and would have devastating impacts for people and wildlife.
The event coincided with the launch of WWF International?s Climate Witness Programme at the UNFCCC Conference of Parties in Buenos Aires. Climate witnesses from Fiji, Nepal, Argentina and India have told their stories to the delegations about how climate change has affected, and in some cases devastated, their lives.
For further information, please contact:
David Cowdrey, t: 01483 412 378 or 07776 177654, e: dcowdrey@wwf.org.uk
