The upsurge in deaths of "boat people" heading to Europe across the Mediterranean happened in the middle of the UK's general election campaign, forcing politicians to respond and provoking brief discussion of the links between the phenomenon and Britain's foreign policy. At the same time, the issue of climate change also made an appearance in the election, thanks both to consistent pushing by the Green Party and a speech on foreign policy by the Labour Party leader Ed Miliband. A substantial part of this speech, delivered at Chatham House on 24 April, was devoted to climate change, though the element was almost entirely ignored in media reporting.
The deep connection between environmental degradation and the exodus from crisis-zones in Africa and the Middle East, highlighted in last week's column in this series, also has not figured much in recent media coverage. But it is welcome that elsewhere, the dangers of climate disruption are being given a significant boost from the recognition of a variety of leaders, institutions and researchers around the world.
The move to parity
