THE FOREST of Dean Council has become the first rural local authority to declare a ‘Climate Emergency’.

The move, proposed by Green councillor Chris McFarling (Newland and St Briavels), in response to the threat of “runaway global warming”, was backed unanimously at last Thursday’s (December 6) meeting of the full council.

It also agreed to a policy of making the Forest of Dean district carbon neutral by 2030, and called on the Government and other relevant organisations and partners to provide the powers, resources and help with funding to successfully meet the target.

The council pledged to “work with other councils and organisations (both within the UK and internationally) to determine and implement best practice methods to limit global warming to less than 1.5°C,” – the figure set by the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change.

As part of the declaration, council leader Cllr Tim Gwilliam (Forest First, Berry Hill) was also urged to start work with partners across the district, county and region to help deliver carbon neutrality through relevant strategies and plans.

Cllr McFarling, the Cabinet member for Environment, Wildlife, Heritage and Culture, said the world’s leading climate scientists had warned that there were only a dozen years for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5°C, beyond which even half a degree would “significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published two months ago had indicated that a rise in average temperature of 2°C would cause “enormous harm”.

The World Meteorological Organisation had also said that CO2 levals in the atmosphere had hit new heights and “the window of opportunity for action is almost closed.”

He added: “In order to reduce the very real risk of runaway global warming and the dramatic impacts on the global environment, society and us as individuals, it is imperative that we take the boldest steps to reduce our CO2 emissions from their current 6.5 tonnes per person per year to less than two tonnes as soon as possible.

“Society needs to help individuals reduce their own carbon emissions by changing its laws, taxation, infrastructure, policies and plans, to make low carbon living easier and the new norm.

“Authorities around the country and the world are responding by declaring a ‘Climate Emergency’ and committing resources to address this emergency now.

“It is important for us all in the Forest of Dean that the local district council commits to carbon neutrality as quickly as possible,” he added.

“The Forest of Dean District Council needs to take a lead and act now. The Forest of Dean is well-placed to champion rural decarbonisation.

“The district has huge carbon sequestration potential with 27,000 acres of public forest estate (21 per cent of the total district area), and abundant clean renewable resources (solar, wind and tidal lagoons) to become 100 per cent self-reliant on zero-carbon energy.”