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October 23, 2013

Thousands Ordered to Evacuate Australia Bushfires; PM Rejects Climate Change Link 
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In Australia, thousands of people have been ordered to leave their homes
outside of Sydney amidst the area’s worst bushfires in decades. More
than 200 homes have been destroyed in New South Wales state since last
week, and today's conditions are expected to reach their worst to date.
Speaking to CNN this week, the U.N.'s top climate official, Christiana
Figueres, said heat waves causing bushfires are linked to global
warming.

Christiana Figueres: "Now, the WMO, the World Meteorological
Organization, has not established the direct link between this wildfire
and climate change yet. But what is absolutely clear is the science is
telling us that there are increasing heat waves in Asia, Europe and
Australia, that there these will continue, that they will continue in
their intensity and in their frequency."

In response, Australia's new prime minister, Tony Abbott, dismissed
Figueres' comments, saying: "Fire is part of the Australian experience
... these fires are certainly not a function of climate change, they are
just a function of life."

 

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