Declaration of Climate Emergency

Dersingham Parish Council Climate and Biodiversity Emergency Statement

At its meeting of 16th December 2019 Dersingham Parish Council resolved to adopt the following statement:

This Council recognises that:

1. The human influence on the climate system is unequivocal and recent man-made emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history.
2. Recent climate changes have had widespread impacts on human and natural systems. This and other factors have led to a crisis in ecology and biodiversity.
3. West Norfolk is already at a high and increasing risk of the effects of climate change.
4. The 2015 Paris Agreement, which the UK has ratified, sets a temperature target of limiting global heating well below 2 degrees C with efforts to achieve 1.5 degrees C.
5. The 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report showed that impacts are much greater if 1.5 degrees C is exceeded.
6. The social and economic costs of delayed action far outweigh those of rapid mitigation and adaptation to the 1.5 degrees C target.