Any fool can see that the climate is changing. You can debate whether this is due to man made factors or whether it is a continuous and natural process. The impact is already to be felt in weather conditions which are more extreme than we have been used to. Rainstorms are heavier, winds stronger, heat waves more searing, droughts longer; the list goes on. In vulnerable parts of the world once in a lifetime weather events are now recurring with increasing frequency, in some cases year on year. Floods, fires, tornadoes, typhoons, snowstorms (or the lack of them) are all part of the consequences which will now have to be addressed, not as an add on to appease, but as a world project in which every country and community will have to engage.
In the UK it is apparent that the template for towns and villages through which rivers pass is no longer viable because the several hundred years through which they have developed enjoyed a more temperate climate than the one into which we are now passing. Rivers will have to be dredged, giant underground storm drains will have to be built, riverside properties demolished to allow a broader river bed, are just a few of a frightening list of mounting imperatives for which the government seems wholly unprepared.The cost will be eye popping. At present it looks as if £2 billion a year is going to be needed for a decade. The Chancellor will have to get to work on his sums.