The UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband officially launched a map showing the impacts of a global 4°C (7°F) rise in temperatures on October 22nd.  British Acting High Commissioner, Mark Gooding made an official call on Environment Minister the Hon. Champika Ranawake on Tuesday October 27, 2009 to officially hand over the map.

The map shows significant temperature rises on land, with the hottest days of the year in many highly populated areas being between 6 and 12 degrees C (11-22F) higher than they are now. It sets out the impact of sea-level rises that could put 150 million more people at risk from flooding in Asia and other vulnerable regions. It examines the impacts on agricultural production, with potentially tens to hundreds of millions more people at risk from hunger, and tells us that climate change could lead to a situation later this century where more than a third of the global population is living in areas with limited per capita availability of water.

Acting High Commissioner, Mark Gooding said:

“ The map demonstrates why we need a global agreement at Copenhagen that will keep warming to a maximum of two degrees. It we fail to achieve this, then four degrees of warming during the course of this century is the most likely outcome from a Business As Usual global emissions trajectory.”

The map clearly outline why this is this is a matter of immediate importance not only to UK but also to countries like Sri Lanka. The geopolitical implications of the physical, economic and human impacts highlighted by the map would be far-reaching and transformational. Climate change will increasingly affect foreign policy decisions, changing not just the physical landscape but the political context and choices countries have to work with. It could have a potentially devastating impact on national security and prosperity, threatening a country’s access to essential resources, infrastructure, and social and economic stability.

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