The dangers of climate change are mounting so rapidly that they could overwhelm the ability of both nature and humanity to adapt unless greenhouse gas emissions are quickly reduced, according to a major new scientific report released on Monday.
The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of experts convened by the United Nations, is the most detailed look yet at the threats posed by global warming. It concludes that nations aren't doing nearly enough to protect cities, farms and coastlines from the dangers that climate change has unleashed so far.
The report is a damning indictment of failed climate leadership and was written by 270 researchers from 67 countries.
The report said that the perils are already visible. More than 13 million people were displaced by storms, floods and other extreme weather events in Asia and Africa in 2019. Millions of people are at increased risk of hunger and malnutrition due to rising heat and the spread of diseases like Malaria. Half of the world's population faces severe water scarcity at some point in the year.
Few nations are unscathed. Hundreds of people have been killed by heat waves in the United States and Canada, as well as floods in Germany and China, and fires in Australia and Siberia.
One of the most striking conclusions in our report is that we are seeing adverse impacts that are much more widespread and much more negative than expected.
Many nations have been able to limit the damage by spending billions of dollars each year on adaptation measures like flood barriers, air-conditioning or early-warning systems.
The report said that those efforts are too often. Changing how people build homes, grow food, produce energy and protect nature will be required to prepare for future threats.
The report warns that if temperatures keep rising, many parts of the world could soon face limits in how much they can adapt to a changing environment. If nations don't act quickly to slash fossil fuel emissions and halt global warming, more and more people will suffer unavoidable loss or be forced to flee their homes, creating dislocation on a global scale.
If we can't control climate change, we'll just let it go and adapt, said Hans-Otto P.F. He said that this is a very illusionary approach, given the expected risks as the planet keeps warming.
Humans have pumped heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere by burning coal, oil and gas for energy, and cutting down forests since the 19th century.
President Biden has pledged to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius compared with preindustrial levels. Scientists say the likelihood of catastrophic climate impacts increases significantly beyond that threshold.
Most nations are far off-track in achieving the goal of eliminating fossil-fuel emissions by the year 2050. According to experts, the world is on pace to warm between 2 degrees and 3 degrees Celsius this century.
The world's most vulnerable people are being forced on a frog march to destruction because of carbon pollution.
The report warns that even the best efforts to adapt could be in trouble if the average temperature goes up. Many nations can't afford the cost of defending coastal communities against rising seas. Rachel Bezner Kerr, an agricultural expert at Cornell University who contributed to the report, said that heat stress could make farming more difficult in parts of North America.
The director of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center said that they are not going to manage on a lot of fronts.
Poor countries are more exposed to climate risks than rich countries. The report said that between 2010 and 2020 floods and storms killed 15 times more people in countries like Africa and Asia than in the wealthiest countries.
The industrialized nations most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions owe developing countries something. Low-income nations want financial help to defend against future threats and to compensate for damages they can't avoid. The next United Nations climate summit in Egypt in November will focus on the issue.
The president of the World Resources Institute said that climate change is the ultimate injustice.
195 governments approved the report which states that the risks to humans and nature will increase with every additional fraction of a degree of warming.
The ability to feed itself is already under strain because of the current levels of warming. Climate change has begun slowing the rate of growth of the world's population, which puts future food supplies at risk as the world's population soars past 8 billion people, according to a report.
Around 8 percent of the world's farmland could become unsuitable for growing food if global warming goes up to 1.5 degrees. Coral reefs, which buffer coastlines against storms and sustain fisheries for millions of people, will face more frequent bleaching from ocean heat waves. Without new protections, the number of people exposed to severe coastal flooding could increase by more than one-fifth.
More than one-third of the population in southern Europe could face chronic water scarcity because of the effects of climate change. Crop yields and fish harvests could decline in many places. More than one million children in Africa could be at risk of severe malnutrition.
A world on fire. A United Nations report has concluded that the risk of devastating wildfires around the world could increase by up to 57 percent by the end of the century.
It is melting away. A new analysis of satellite images shows that the sea ice around Antarctica has reached a record low. Warming ocean temperatures may have played a role in the effect of climate change on sea ice.
The water supplies are being let down. Millions of people depend on glaciers for drinking water, crop irrigation and everyday use, and the world's glaciers may contain less water than previously thought.
By century's end, the risk of extreme weather events could increase fivefold. Flooding from sea-level rise and heavier rainstorms could cause four times as much economic damage as they do today. A high risk of extinction is faced by as many as 29 percent of known plant and animal species.
The report lays out strategies that nations can take to protect themselves, such as elevating homes above rising flood waters or developing new crop varieties that can tolerate heat.
Some of the harms from climate dangers have been reduced by humanity. Over the past 50 years, the number of deaths from storms, floods and other extreme weather events has fallen due to improved early warning systems and disaster management. Investments in public health have meant that fewer people are succumbing to diseases like cholera, even as rising temperatures and heavier rains have aided their spread.
The report said that adapting to climate change will become more difficult for poorer countries if global temperatures keep rising.
Adelle Thomas, an adaptation researcher, said that if we are able to limit warming to 1.5 degrees, the likelihood of large areas or specific islands becoming uninhabitable will be relatively low. She said that higher levels of warming could cause those areas to become uninhabitable.
A decade ago, wealthy nations pledged to give $100 billion per year to the developing world by 2020 to shift to cleaner sources of energy and adapt to climate change. They have fallen short by tens of billions of dollars, with only a fraction of the funds spent on adaptation.
The report said that many communities are acting in ways that increase their vulnerability. Millions of people are moving to areas that are less prone to flooding because of sea level rise. Some adaptation measures have consequences. Sea walls can protect certain places but can also cause flooding in populated areas elsewhere. Irrigation can help protect crops but can also deplete resources.
Despite the fact that we have been talking about climate change for a long period of time, many regions are still developing in ways that make their people more exposed to the dangers.
The report recommends that leaders use more farsighted strategies. As oceans rise, coastal communities could be relocated inland. Poor and rural communities could be made more resilient against climate shocks by improvements in basic services.
Edward R. Carr is a professor of international development at Clark University. Do we get transformed by what we have done to the world we live in?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change created the sixth major assessment of climate science in 1988. The science behind how human activity is heating the planet was examined in the first report. Strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will be explored in a report this spring.
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