The devastating consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly clear. The worst can still be averted with adaptation, says the IPCC, but time is of the essence. It needs profound upheaval.
According to the new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global warming has already dangerously changed nature, and billions of people are suffering more and more as a result. The IPCC working group on the consequences of climate change reported on Monday that 3.3 to 3.6 billion people are already particularly at risk from climate change due to their living conditions.
“The impacts we are seeing today are occurring much more rapidly, and are more destructive and far-reaching than expected 20 years ago,” the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said. More people who no longer have an income in their home country would be forced to migrate. Governments are still not doing enough to avert the worst of the dangers.
“We have a shrinking time window,” warned the co-chair of the working group, the German marine biologist Hans-Otto Pörtner. He gives the federal government bad grades for climate policy: “You get a three for the ambitions and a four for the implementation, so far,” he told the German Press Agency.
Guterres: The rights of the poorest are ignored
“Today’s report is another death knell for the world as we know it,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “A few countries are trampling on the rights of the rest of the world. A few companies rake in rich profits while ignoring the rights of the poorest and most vulnerable.” Guterres said it was criminal for governments not to do their jobs.
The consequences of climate change are visible in all parts of the world: there are devastating forest fires like those in the Mediterranean and in the west of the USA, floods like in the Ahr and Erft region in July 2021, heat waves like in Siberia. On Monday, the German Weather Service (DWD) reported that winter 2021/22 was the eleventh too warm in a row.
30 to 50 percent of the earth’s surface must be kept available for natural areas, said Pörtner. They could be used, but only in a sustainable coexistence of man and nature. “This way of thinking hasn’t really arrived in politics yet.”
According to the IPCC documents, ecosystems are still absorbing more greenhouse gases than they produce themselves. But that changes when primeval forest is cut down or peat bog areas are drained or the Arctic permafrost melts. “This and other trends can still be reversed if ecosystems are repaired, rebuilt and strengthened, and managed sustainably,” the scientists write. “Healthy ecosystems and rich biodiversity are the basis for human survival.”
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global warming coincides with other challenges. He lists the growing world population, people migrating to cities, excessive consumption, growing poverty and inequality, environmental pollution, overfishing and most recently the corona pandemic. Disease risks continue to increase, dengue fever will spread, also to Europe.
“Denial and delay are not strategies, it is a recipe for disaster,” said John Kerry, the US government’s climate commissioner. “The best scientists in the world have shown us that we need to accelerate adaptation to climate change, urgently and at scale.”
There are already clear changes in plants and animals
Heat and extreme weather drove plants and animals on land and in the oceans toward the poles, to deeper waters, or to higher elevations. Marine life is moving towards the South or North Pole at an average of 59 kilometers per decade due to rising water temperatures. However, many species are reaching their limits in adapting to climate change and are threatened with extinction. With global warming four degrees above pre-industrial levels, 50 percent of land-based animal and plant species are threatened with extinction.
“It’s high time to see species and climate protection as a common challenge,” said Alexander Bonde, Secretary General of the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU). “Both are necessary if people want to have a future on this planet.”
By the end of the decade, fishermen in tropical Africa could catch up to 41 percent less. If warming reaches 2.1 degrees, by 2050 an additional 1.4 million children in Africa are likely to be permanently stunted from malnutrition.
“We are in an emergency and on the way to disaster,” warned Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). «Humanity has treated nature like its worst enemy for centuries. In fact, nature can be our savior, but we must save it first.” The climate council demands fundamental social changes. The energy must be clean, the throwaway mentality must be eliminated. Cities and agriculture must be made sustainable and mobility must be changed: more cycling instead of driving, more train travel instead of flying.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was founded in 1988. The new report is part two of its sixth assessment report on climate change. The first part on the scientific basis was published in August 2021. The third part deals with ways to mitigate climate change. He is expected in April. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the average global temperature between 2010 and 2019 was around 1.1 degrees higher than in the pre-industrial era (1850-1900) due to man-made greenhouse gases. Since the 5th status report in 2014 alone, it had risen by 0.2 degrees.
“Climate change is threatening people and the health of the planet on an unprecedented scale,” said environmental psychologist Gerhard Reese. “So-called climate anxiety can already be found among many young people around the world.” It is important to ensure that this fear is converted into a motivation to act.
Source: Stern
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
