Environmental experts to gather in Oxford

Delegates from the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils (EEAC) will discuss how the member states of the European Union must work together if they are to meet the environmental challenges each will face in the future.

The Climate Change and Biodiversity – meeting the challenge conference will take place on September 9.

The EEAC is a unique collaboration set up by governments in 1993 to provide independent, scientific advice and has proved a powerful tool for sharing information and experience from across Europe.

It also aims to influence policy making at both national and European levels.

At the gathering in September evidence showing the effects of climate change will be presented and suggestions for changing countryside and national policies to deal with new problems never faced before by Europe will be laid out.

The scientific experts hope to reiterate the fact that climate change is real and
happening now and that we have entered a period of unprecedented change, driven largely by human activities and that many regard this as one of the most significant threats to face the
modern world.

They will outline how climate change is unavoidable for the next 50 years or more because of historic greenhouse gas emissions and the time these will remain in the atmosphere.

The focus of the conference will be on adaptation measures to reduce the risks of climate change to biodiversity, and the conservation of ecosystems and the species they support.

Ideas for potential solutions will range from far-reaching ecological strategies covering vast areas such as the Arctic region spanning Canada, America, Europe and
Asia, through national plans to common areas such as agriculture or
freshwater and marine resources.

By Sam Bond