Failure by the international community to address the issue of global climate change at the forthcoming Montreal summit "will have serious consequences for many areas of the world, including Ireland", according to the Royal Irish Academy.
In a statement yesterday its Irish committee on climate change said the UN Climate Change Conference in Montreal was a "historic opportunity to establish meaningful foundations for plans for reducing greenhouse gases throughout the world".
It said there was now "a widespread acceptance of the vital role of greenhouse gases in climate change. Increasing emissions as a result of human activities are largely responsible for global warming, and Irish climate is already showing significant changes over recent decades."
The committee said "highly-expensive investments in infrastructure" will be necessary to cope with the problems resulting from a changing climate, as well as "major dislocation" in water resources, agriculture, forestry, biodiversity and other sectors.
The committee believes that support for the EU negotiating position, which aims to limit the rise in global temperature to 2C, is "essential to avoid dangerous climate change occurring over the course of this century".
It noted that Irish greenhouse gas emissions are approximately 25 per cent above 1990 levels, and must be limited to an increase of 13 per cent over the next five to seven years if Ireland is to comply with its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.
"On a per capita basis Ireland is a major greenhouse gas emitter and one of Europe's poorest performers in reducing emissions over the past decade. Transport emissions, for example, are increasing on average by 10 per cent per annum in recent years."
The committee called for the adoption of a range of cost-effective measures to address Ireland's "looming problems in complying with Kyoto".