One of the world's leading figures on climate change has warned that unless people living in the UAE don't refrain from their carbon-intensive lifestyles, their children will have to live in future full of troubles.
Lord Stern, chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, specified, "A child of five or 10 now, if we go on business as usual, is likely to live to see the kind of very, very difficult circumstances we are talking about."
If people don't stop burning large amounts of fossil fuels, scientists fear that there would be a tremendous rise in global temperatures, which will finally lead to destructive changes in weather patterns and sea levels.
Lord Stern said all this after studying the results of a survey The National commissioned from YouGov, the international research organization, to coincide with the World Future Energy Summit. The results clearly show that nearly three fifth of residents would be hesitant to pay more prices for electricity and petrol to help combat climate change.
The results, based on attitudes in other parts of the world, did not come as a surprise at all to Lord Stern, who in 2006 authored the most comprehensive report on the economics of the issue.
He explained, "It is not only here that people are resistant to prices going up. The only way we can have a good discussion is if we lay out what the consequences are of carrying on the way we have been carrying on, and to ask people to imagine the lives of their children."
He warned that there is a fair chance for global warming to hike 5°C, if present trends are not changed.
If in case this happens then millions of people will be displaced by droughts and rising seas, leading to serious extended conflict.
The survey by YouGov described UAE nationals as being less aware of global warming and its serious aftermaths, even when other parts of the world are pretty well aware about the issue. The UAE people also were not in favor of increasing prices to try and reduce energy consumption.
The survey showed that an increase in electricity prices was not supported by 74% Emiratis, while 73% felt that there was no need to increase the petrol prices.
It was specified by the YouGov survey that all demographic groups showed high level of opposition for taxes on energy.
The survey showed that there were only 32% who were in favor of a tax on cars with standard engines over a certain size, with Westerners (47 per cent) most enthusiastic and Emiratis (14 per cent) least so.
The survey also showed that there were very few respondents who were in favor of a range of measures. While there were only 21% who supported an increase in taxes in air-conditioning in commercial premises, there were just 16% who thought an increase in price for petrol and commercial use of water was important.
The survey, carried online during and after the 11-day United Nations' conference on climate change in Copenhagen in December, surveyed a total of 799 respondents.
