A RATHER grave issue was addressed in a lecture for students of the university presses held by the British Embassy in Korea on April 4. Judith Gough, the Political Counselor, intensively focused on the drastic climate change in modern days and how the British government has been swiftly reacting.
According to the “Stern Review” referred by Judith, an official document the UK employs to measure the impact of climate changes on economics, climate change is a serious threat to both the environment and global economy. The document, written by Sir Nicolas Stern, stresses that the contamination and destruction of environment will eventually bring about huge costs for recovery, and the evidence is already rampant. Sir Stern warned that the increasing fragility of environment will lead to a formidable burden on economy.
“The UK is at the forefront of actions to provide innovative solutions to the climate change by developing the world’s first economy-wide scheme such as green house gas emissions trading,” mentioned Judith. Moreover, the UK has committed to reducing carbon level to 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2010 and 60 percent by 2050. The UK further supports an ambitious energy policy adopted by European Union, which will significantly contribute to diminishing climate change.
The succinct lecture on climate change certainly enlightened students from many university presses with fervent British actions to amend the situation. The British government with its embassy in Korea will further strive to imprint the significance of climate change upon the Korean government. Certainly, climate change is not a problem of one nation state but a global issue. From that standpoint, cooperation of the UK and South Korea, if possible, can be a paradigm for a prospective future of the global environment.
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