Minister for the Environment Dick Roche is to lead a 12-person Irish delegation to vital UN-led talks on climate change in Nairobi, starting on Monday.
Most of the delegation is drawn from Mr Roche's department, but it also includes the Green Party's energy spokesman, Eamon Ryan.
The Greens said yesterday Irish people still had an over-optimistic view of the effects of climate change. Mr Ryan said 150,000 people were dying from climate change in the world each year and Ireland could see drastic changes in the near future unless action was taken now.
"Last month, temperatures here were between one and two degrees above average, which is now becoming a standard pattern. In Ireland, we tend to see such increases in a positive light, but scientists have clearly shown the future perils of climate change unless we take immediate measures to turn down the heat."
Mr Ryan said the world was already close to a one-degree rise. As a result, Africa's Sahel region was suffering serious drought, coral reefs were being devastated and weather events were becoming more extreme.
A two-degree increase would cause mountain glaciers to dry up, while a rise of three degrees could cause climate change to become a runaway phenomenon.
A four-degree rise would cause the polar ice sheets to melt, leading to a 40-ft rise in sea levels, he claimed. The Greens yesterday produced a map of Dublin Bay illustrating the possible effects of such a change; the map shows much of coastal Dublin underwater.
The Greens say Ireland can tackle global warming by providing more public transport and cutting back motorway projects; ending urban sprawl; putting a new emphasis on renewable energy and promoting less-intensive agriculture.
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