The possibility of environ-mental disaster, which could tear the European Union apart and leave much of its farmland abandoned while the rich retreat to gated rural communities, will be presented to Europe's agriculture and environment ministers this weekend, to stimulate action on tackling climate change.

Margaret Beckett, the UK's environment secretary, who will chair the informal meeting under the British presidency, said the EU's agriculture and environment ministers had never before discussed the likely impact of climate change on European farming.

She told the FT: "The [EU's] environment council rarely gives much thought to agriculture, and agriculture almost never thinks about climate change."

The European Environment Agency has prepared a report for the meeting, to be attended by nearly 50 ministers, that will outline some of the possible results of climate change in Europe. These range from the relatively mild to the disastrous, but the best outcomes are from those models in which action is taken promptly by the EU in order to mitigate climate change, and to help people and businesses to adapt to its effects.

Bold mine. I find that absolutely amazing that this topic has so far not been seriously discussed in Brussels.