No matter what we do now we are committed to global warming The time lag in the climate system means the activities of our parents and grandparents have committed us to a process of global warming over the next 100 years. By 2025 we are set to be 1oC warmer than today, sea level in Norfolk will be about 15cm higher and the winter will be 2.5 weeks shorter.

Surely we have the technology and ingenuity to adapt to these changes in our environment? Scientists at UEA agree that, in theory, we do. But suggest some preconditions have to apply.

Mainly, that the financial or political mechanisms have to be in place to allow people to access the technological solution. This pre-requisite would have to operate both globally and locally.

For example, what is the island state of Tubaloo going to require to adapt to sea level rises of between 30 and 100cm over the next 50 years? In theory they could, the Dutch have done it. But where will the resources and political will come from? Closer to home, the future of Brancaster Golf Club is as uncertain as the shape of the shifting sand-dunes which protect it from the rising sea. We have the technology to protect it. But do we have the will? Could the considerable resources required to defend Brancaster Staithe be better used? Are there other ways to adapt?

In Norfolk do we have the foresight and capacity required to successfully adapt to our changing climate?