Climate Change: Europe Can Learn From India, Says UK Diplomat In Bhopal

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The United Kingdom has been facing droughts, floods and extreme heat for past two years due to climate change, which never happened in past. For this, it can learn from India, said Minister and Deputy High Commissioner to India, Christina Scott.

Talking to Free Press on the sidelines of an event organised by Madhya Pradesh Council of Science and Technology in the city on Friday, Christina said that coastal erosion, changes in level of water bodies, hotter and longer summers and warmer and shorter winters were some of the effects of climate change which European nations, North America had been facing for some time. “All the countries need to work together to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which are the root cause of climate change. We also need to invest in clean energy,” she said.

“World has to identify new technologies to deal with climate change. All this requires money, time and effort. India and the UK can complement each other in this respect by working on each other’s strengths,” she added.

Executive Director, International Institute for Environment and Development, London, Tom Mitchell said UK had begun to feel the consequences of climate change. “India has been dealing with droughts and floods for much longer than us. So, we can learn from it. For instance, the MGNREGS, which provides jobs to workers at their place where they live, is one way of reducing damage to environment,” he said.

Tom said UK was also facing coastal flooding and forest fires, which were a new phenomenon. “We are not prepared for all this. We need to learn from others. For instance, to deal with forest fires we need to train forest managers, develop early warning systems and stop people from lighting camp fires etc,” he said.