Cllr Proposes Climate Crisis Committee

An SDLP Councillor is set to propose the establishment of a working group on climate change for Belfast City Council.

A representative for the Lisnasharragh DEA in east Belfast, Séamus de Faoite hopes the committee will work to tackle the city's impact on the climate crisis and protect citizens from the effects of climate breakdown.

Speaking ahead of his motion that is due to be tabled today, Tuesday 21 May, Cllr de Faoite said the climate issue is a national emergency that requires immediate action at a local, national and international level.

"We are facing a global climate catastrophe," he commented.

"We must take action to address the impact of rising temperatures caused by human generated emissions within the next 11 years.

"MET Office projections show that by 2040, we can expect a more volatile climate with drier summers and more concentrated winter storms leading to further instances of flooding. Changes to our climate will have a significant impact on people, homes and businesses. It's critical that we make decisive interventions quickly. That means creating new green space in our city to increase the permeability of our landscape, making us more resilient to flooding and increasing our carbon capture capacity. It also means looking at rainwater harvesting technology and reducing our reliance on single use plastics.

"Belfast is already a global resilience leader- developing our city's response to the emerging challenges of the 21st century. How we respond to the climate crisis must be at the heart of that preparation.

"This needs to be a political priority for our city and everyone in City Hall. I'm delighted to be working with the Green Party on this issue and I hope that we can secure cross party support."