The private sector must be closely involved in dealing with climate change if it is to be successfully addressed, the Seanad has heard.

UN special representative for disaster risk reduction Margareta Wahlström said the private sector in most countries was responsible for about 80 per cent of all investment.

“Unless we can get the private sector closely engaged for its self-interest . . . contributing to an environment that is much better for investment income and viability, then we are not likely to succeed,” she said.

Ms Wahlström, who has 30 years’ experience in humanitarian relief operations in disaster and conflict areas, and in disaster risk reduction, was addressing the Seanad.

'Cloudburst'
Ms Wahlström pointed to Denmark where political leaders did not believe in climate change. But in the summer of 2011 there was "an enormous cloudburst and Copenhagen was under metres of floodwater for about a day".

The city did not have modern plumbing and the sewerage and freshwater systems were not segregated. “To this day no one knows how to pay for it.” But she said “now the Danes believe in climate change.” She warned that the other aspect of global warming or climate change was the “unpredictability of weather, with longer droughts and unpredictable sowing periods. This is the case everywhere in the world, including Europe.”

The UN special representative said every country had land-use planning regulations “but it is a question of whether these are taken seriously . . . We are not respecting some basic rules of nature”. She warned: “We must realise that disasters are not created by natural forces but rather as a result of how we organise society.”