Professor Valérie Masson-Delmotte:

The first point was about communicating with citizens. Education is key. School programmes should start early in the lives of children and be structured to provide tools for future citizens to understand what is at stake. The programmes should also focus on providing solutions. Such education should provide tools for younger generations in order that they can act when they graduate from the education system. Why not use schools as places for experimentation? One could implement projects in schools and then base them in communities. There are powerful examples all around the world, in both developed and developing countries, that have the potential of giving a strong base for climate action within communities.

The second point was about governance, issues like methodology for the climate proofing of all types of projects. One would not just look at the usual administrative rules or the cost but also the systematic assessment of the resilience of the project in a changing climate, and the implications of the project during its lifetime for greenhouse gas emissions and the consistency with the pathway that the country wants to follow.

With respect, one can also see Ireland as a large ocean country. Next year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, will release a Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, which deals with the frozen parts of the world. The special report will have a specific chapter on coastal areas and a specific chapter on marine echo systems and the livelihoods that depend on them. Those chapters will be very relevant to this country. There are examples of adaptation strategies for coastal areas in many places around the world. There are also examples of decision processes and democratic approaches that discuss what one wants to protect and at what cost. That includes very high investment that blocks some adaptation processes or provides a more flexible approach that allows one to revise an adaptation strategy as well as provide nature-based solutions.

In terms of the last question, there is a potential to eliminate carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using peatland restoration. The report shows that afforestation and the restoration of eco-systems, and some agricultural practices, are the least costly approaches for carbon dioxide removal. However, there is a need for more knowledge on the true potential for extracting carbon dioxide and the durability of the storage as well, so that it is not dependent on drought or fires that would risk putting CO2 back into the atmosphere.

There is a need for more knowledge on the true potential of how much CO2 can be extracted and the durability of the storage that is independent of drought or fires that would risk putting that CO2 back into the atmosphere. That is the potential in many ways. Nature-based solutions such as this one offer multiple advantages through ecosystem services and recreational activities.