UN Climate Report Describes Fast Rate Of World Warming

JAKARTA - A major United Nations (UN) scientific report released on Monday, August 9 shows no one is safe from the accelerating effects of climate change, and there is an urgent need to prepare and protect people when extreme weather and rising sea levels hit. tougher than expected.

The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), authored by 234 scientists, says that global warming of about 1.1 degrees Celsius has brought about many changes in various regions, from more severe droughts and storms to rising sea levels. .

These will continue to increase with further warming, but it is not too late to reduce climate warming emissions to keep temperature rises to the internationally agreed goal of “well below” 2 degrees Celsius and ideally 1.5 degrees Celsius – which would help halt or slowed some of the impacts, the report said.

UN officials say the IPCC has increasingly sounded the alarm in its regular reports over the past three decades, but that this has not prompted an adequate policy response.

“The world hears but does not listen; the world is listening but not acting strongly enough – and as a result, climate change is the problem that is here today,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme.

"Nothing is safe and this is getting worse fast," he told reporters at the launch of the report online.

IPCC chairman Hoesung Lee said the report provided a better understanding of climate change and how it is happening around the world.

“This tells us that there is no denying that human activities are causing climate change and making extreme weather events more frequent and severe,” he said, describing it as a “valuable toolbox” for negotiators at the November 26 COP climate talks.

All parts of the world are affected, he added, noting that the report contains detailed information on impacts by region, as well as rapidly growing knowledge of linking extreme weather events to climate change.

The report also offers an interactive atlas that allows people to examine climate change where they live.

Petteri Taalas, secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which hosts the IPCC, said that if confirmed and implemented, the government's current plans to reduce emissions could limit global warming to 2.1 degrees Celsius.

But that rate of temperature rise would still bring with it many problems, including food shortages, extreme heat, wildfires, sea level rise, a potential "refugee crisis" and negative impacts on the global economy and biodiversity, he added.

In addition to reducing emissions, "it is critical to pay attention to climate adaptation because negative trends in climate will continue for decades and in some cases for thousands of years", he said in the report's launch.

One powerful way to adapt, he says, is to invest in early warning services for threats like droughts and floods – but only half of the WMO's 195 member states currently have them, triggering human and economic losses.

There are also severe gaps in meteorological systems and weather forecasts in Africa, parts of Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific, he added.

Youba Sokona, vice chair of the IPCC and special adviser for sustainable development at the South Center, said the report would help African policymakers improve their ability to understand climate change and anticipate what might happen.

The report would allow them to design more resilient infrastructure, such as larger dams in drought-prone areas or stronger flood defenses in cities, and seek funding for such projects, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation via video call from Bamako. , the capital of Mali.

The report includes specific scientific information about the polar regions, saying that it is very likely that the Arctic area has warmed at more than twice the global rate over the past 50 years.

That has led to more extreme heat events, melting ice sheets and a longer fire season, while the Arctic could be ice-free in summer at least once in 2050, he said.

IPCC report lead author Dirk Notz, who heads research on sea ice at Germany's University of Hamburg, said the Arctic was "our planet's early warning system", with climate change manifesting earlier and more strongly there.

He said policymakers should use the new report to make plans for sea levels that could potentially exceed previously projected ranges.

For example, if building a coastal embankment to protect against 1 meter of water this century, it would make sense to let it be raised to cope with a 2 meter increase if needed.

"I hope ... both the public and policymakers really understand what is at stake here - that we leave the comfort zone of our climate system that we have lived in for the last millennia and move into completely uncharted territory," he added.