Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:44 pm on 8 November 2016.
I like to look at the weight of evidence when we deal with a particular scenario, and the overwhelming weight of evidence from those who are qualified is that climate change is happening and that human activity has an effect on climate change. If climate change isn’t happening, then clearly we need to re-examine our flood defence policy because we’re spending money on flood defences that apparently aren’t needed, because, of course, we are putting in place flood defences to deal with flooding events that have occurred in some parts of Wales where they’ve not been experienced before. The residents of Tal-y-bont in Ceredigion will provide evidence for that. We’re also looking to provide defences for people based on what the experts tell us will be an increase in global temperatures and a subsequent disturbance of weather patterns over the next few years. Climate change is something that doesn’t happen over five or 10 years: it happens over many, many decades and it is measured not necessarily in the span of a human lifetime either.