WWF-UK: WWF brings the Arctic to Westminster to highlight the threats of climate change
Access key details
This site uses the UK government standard access keys, as shown below:
S - Skip navigation1 - Home page
2 - What's new
3 - Site map
4 - Search
5 - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
9 - Feedback form
0 - Access key details
Section navigation
How you can help
WWF brings the Arctic to Westminster to highlight the threats of climate change
Thursday 9 December 2004
WWF recreated the Arctic experience in Westminster to raise awareness about the damaging effect climate change is having on people and places around the world.
A life-size igloo sculpted from snow ice was built alongside the House of Lords and Arctic explorer, Mille Porsild, brought along three huskies and a puppy.
Mille Porsild, who measures the impact of global warming on the Arctic, met with politicians to talk about the changing environment which is affecting people and wildlife in the Arctic.
The event marks the launch of WWF's Climate Witnesses initiative, part of its new climate change campaign. WWF will be putting 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 effecting 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."
WWF has tabled a parliamentary motion calling on the Government to honour its commitment to cut the UK's CO2 emissions by 20 per cent by 2010. It emphasises the crucial importance of ensuring that average global temperature rises stay below 2°C. This is the crucial tipping point for the environment and would have devastating impacts for people and wildlife.
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."
The event coincides 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 will tell their stories to the delegations about how climate change has affected, and in some cases devastated, their lives.
Mille Porsild, who measures the impact of global warming on the Arctic, met with politicians to talk about the changing environment which is affecting people and wildlife in the Arctic.
The event marks the launch of WWF's Climate Witnesses initiative, part of its new climate change campaign. WWF will be putting 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 effecting 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."
WWF has tabled a parliamentary motion calling on the Government to honour its commitment to cut the UK's CO2 emissions by 20 per cent by 2010. It emphasises the crucial importance of ensuring that average global temperature rises stay below 2°C. This is the crucial tipping point for the environment and would have devastating impacts for people and wildlife.
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."
The event coincides 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 will tell their stories to the delegations about how climate change has affected, and in some cases devastated, their lives.
Please help
If you have a story about how climate change has affected your life, or that of someone you know, please tell us by visiting our stop climate chaos website
To find out how you can help WWF campaign on climate change please visit www.wwf.org.uk/climatechaos
To find out more about Mille Porsild and her work in the Arctic visit www.polarhusky.com