Temperatures in southern England are rising at an alarming rate and are set to reach a figure which is double the target laid down by the Kyoto agreement – according to the CLA, the rural economy experts.

The CLA has written to environment secretary, Hilary Benn, reminding him of the potentially disastrous impact of climate change on parts of the UK and central Europe. The heads up warning comes in the week that the environment secretary will meet with environment ministers from around the world in Bali to debate a successor to the Kyoto treaty on climate change.

CLA President, Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, whose members manage around half of the rural land in England and Wales, has urged the minister to press for a series of cuts to help stabilise atmospheric carbon levels by 2050. The CLA has also written to senior figures in the EU and the UN asking them to try to persuade India and China of the urgent need for then to accept appropriate emission targets.

The Association has used research compiled on 14 estates across Europe to show that even if global warming could be contained to 2C, most of Europe would experience double that figure – with the highest increases occurring in central Europe, southern England and Finland.

“This has serious implications not only for cropping, forestry, water resources and erosion, but also for biodiversity, and for coastal zones. In all these ways, our members are particularly vulnerable to climate change - and we believe it likely that any increase in the frequency of extreme events will have an impact on our members which is disproportionate to climate changes in the mean, “said the CLA President.

He has also reminded the minister that landowners have a valuable role to play in mitigating climate change through such things as carbon sequestration and the production of renewable resources in the energy and construction sectors.

“We are concerned that this potential is unlikely to be realised without a higher value being attributed to carbon,” he said.

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