Washington, DC – Today the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a new report titled Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. The report highlights the world’s increasing vulnerability to the effects of climate change, and encourages world leaders to take serious steps to develop robust adaptation plans to protect our natural and human systems. U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a co-chair of the Bicameral Task Force on Climate Change and the Senate Climate Action Task Force, issued the statement below regarding the report:
“This latest report from the IPCC is yet another reminder that we must act to protect our communities from the worsening effects of climate change. We have already seen so many changes here in the U.S., including rising seas, shifting fisheries, and increases in drought, flooding and wild fire. The IPCC makes clear that these dangers are likely increasing. I hope my colleagues in Congress will take this warning from knowledgeable and independent scientists seriously and wake up to the realities of climate change.”
Senator Whitehouse has championed legislation that would build on adaptation efforts at federal agencies and support local communities’ efforts to prepare for the effects of climate change. Last year he introduced the Safeguarding America’s Future and the Environment (SAFE) Act (S. 1202), which would provide local communities with better tools to prepare for extreme weather and require federal agencies to work more efficiently by implementing a single coordinated strategy for protecting, restoring, and conserving the natural resources that American tourism and recreation jobs and local economies depend on.
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