The current refugee crisis, to which our government has responded so pitifully, is but a taste of things to come:
Tackle climate change or face resource wars, Lord Ashdown warns
Refugee crisis is a ‘rehearsal’ for a vast humanitarian disaster that will soon unfold if we fail to act on global warming, former Lib Dem leader tells Climate News Network
The former leader of one of the UK’s main political parties says the world will undergo more resource wars and huge movements of desperate people unless it tackles climate change effectively.
Lord Ashdown, who was leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrats for 11 years, describes the present flight of refugees from Syria and other conflict areas as a “rehearsal” for the vast humanitarian disaster he believes will soon unfold.
In a recent BBC interview on the Syrian refugee crisis, he said: “This is the beginnings of the future. It’s not going to go away.
“The numbers we now have of refugees fleeing battle zones are going to be diminished into almost nothing when we see the mass movement of populations caused by global warming.” …
As that piece was published, Key was at the South Pacific Forum in Papua New Guinea. On being confronted with the impact of climate refugees in the Pacific:
Leaders of Kiribati, Tuvalu and other low lying atolls say New Zealand and Australia just aren’t doing enough.
Mr Key disputes that, saying over $1 billion is committed to Pacific development, including on sustainable clean energy projects.
And he doesn’t think climate change refugees are an immediate issue. “Realistically, you’re so far into the future that’s not an issue that we’re going to face in the next year or two,” he said.
Not an issue we’re going to face in the next year or two? There you have the extent of John Key’s “leadership” in a nutshell. Unbelievable.
At least he isn’t Abbot.
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