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Programme update

Rabiya Parekh | 16:00 UK time, Monday, 30 October 2006

We've been asking people to send us their 60 second opinion editorial pieces on who they think is responsible for saving the planet for tonights programme.

A few people have sent them in and you can hear them putting their views across in the show later, but here's one that's been sent in by Dr Benny Peiser, Liverpool John Moores University, Faculty of Science..

WE NEED TO ADAPT TO CLIMATE CHANGE, REGARDLESS WHO IS RIGHT OR WRONG

What is the most effective way to deal with climate change? This is the key question facing national and international policy and decision makers today.

There is no international consensus on climate policies as the potential costs and economic implications are astronomical. While Europe has put all its political eggs in the Kyoto Treaty, the world's most powerful countries (such as China, India and the USA) and much of the developing world have adopted a technological approach to what they regard to be a long-term problem that can be fixed only in the long term.

It is highly unlikely that the international community will overcome these deep divisions in the next one or two generations. The Stern Review is unlikely to change these divisions. Even Europe as a whole is failing to control carbon dioxide emissions. Meanwhile, in the Far East, China is building one coal-fired power station a week.

In the absence of an international policy consensus, the best approach to deal with the potential problem is to make societies less vulnerable to climate change and build up our resilience. We have to look at coping with and adapting to the changing climate, because - in the short term at least - we will not be able to change it. It is an illusion to think we can reverse that trend in the foreseeable future

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