Climate change – what we do

So, how does the way we use the land and sea affect the environment?
How does the way we exploit natural resources change the environment?
How do pollution and climate change affect people and wildlife?

These are the kind of questions we ask and try to answer at CCW.

Climate change is probably the greatest threat that we face during the 21st century.  It is potentially far more dangerous than the threat of terrorism. Our 'footprint' on the environment is increasingly evident - witness the effects of pollution on people and wildlife, as well as its global presence in air, water and soil.

Through much of the 20th century the prevailing worldview was that the environment, and particularly the countryside, was in a fairly stable state. 

We knew that things like changes in agricultural practices and increases in commercial forestry were altering the appearance of the landscape, as well as damaging wildlife in localised areas. 

What we didn't consider until the later part of the 20th century were the far-reaching continental and, indeed, global impacts of our actions.  Today, we recognise that our effect on the global environment is truly a critical issue. 

Although we now recognise the challenges, changes in land use and management, resource exploitation and development at sea continue the process of environmental change.

In CCW we are working to tackle the issues of climate change and pollution.  Much of our work aims to enable sustainable use of the land, sea and other resources across Wales in ways that are sympathetic to our wildlife and the Welsh landscape.

The main thrusts of our work in this area include:

• research programmes to help us to understand more about the issues of climate change and pollution
• contributing to policy development in these areas
• monitoring growing pollution threats - for example ozone - and the effectiveness of measures to reduce them - for example our work in monitoring sulphur dioxide levels (a major cause of 'acid rain') to assess the condition of our uplands.

Policies to tackle climate change

Policies to deal with climate change focus on reducing energy use to limit greenhouse gas emissions - the main cause of climate change.

• The Kyoto Protocol sets a target for the UK to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5% by 2008-2012. 
• The UK Climate Change Programme includes a suite of policies and measures to achieve this goal - and seeks to do better, wanting to reduce carbon dioxide levels to 20% below their 1990 levels by 2010.

In Wales

Unfortunately, emissions of greenhouse gases in Wales have risen over recent years.  This means that the Welsh Government's Environment Strategy and initiatives are vital to Wales contributing its share of reductions.

CCW is playing its part and has introduced measures to reduce the use of energy within the organisation. We are also working closely with Carbon Trust Wales.

Work has also started on policies that will help us to adapt to the inevitable climate changes of the next forty years.

A new network

The Snowdon Environmental Change Network site is at the forefront of our work on climate change and pollution and their complex effects on the Welsh environment and biodiversity.

The weather changes from hour to hour, day to day. Climate is the average weather within an area over several decades.  Since the 1970s the climate has changed in a major way. The average annual temperature of the UK rose by 0.5°C during the 20th century, but it's predicted to rise by another 2°C to 3°C, perhaps even as much as 5°C during the 21st century.

How the climate is changing

These are some of the predictions derived from four scenarios for the future prepared for the UK Climate Impacts Programme in 2002:

• The number of very hot days, especially in summer and autumn, is set to rise. 
• There will be fewer very cold days in Winter. 
• Winters will be wetter and summers are predicted to become drier.
• There will be more contrast between seasons. 
• There will be much less snowfall
• Growing seasons will be longer. 
• At sea, surface water temperatures will increase around the coast
• The sea-level will rise by between 11 and 71 cm by the 2080s.