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The world must work now to reduce global warming if it is to avoid the high costs of its effects in the future, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said on Monday.
“Taking action now gives us the best chance of success,” the IPCC said upon releasing its latest report.
Increasing temperatures and extreme events such as droughts, floods and heatwaves are exposing plants and animals to climatic conditions not experienced for at least tens of thousands of years, the panel warned.
“The impacts we see today are appearing much faster, they are more disruptive and more widespread than we expected 20 years ago,” the IPCC said, noting that changes in temperature, rainfall, and extreme weather have also increased the frequency and spread of diseases in wildlife, agriculture and people.

“Healthy ecosystems and rich biodiversity underpin human survival.”
However, the IPCC also said these trends could still be reversed by restoring, rebuilding and strengthening ecosystems and by managing them sustainably, which will also support the well-being and livelihoods of people.
Global assets worth up to US$12.7 trillion exposed to climate risks, report says
Otherwise, the consequences are likely to be dire, the IPCC warned. “Climate-sensitive food-borne, waterborne, and vector-borne disease risks are projected to increase under all levels of warming without additional adaptation.
“In particular, dengue risk will increase with longer seasons and a wider geographic distribution in Asia, Europe, Central and South America and Sub-Saharan Africa, potentially putting additional billions of people at risk by the end of the century.”

The world is entering a decisive decade for turning the ship around and avoiding the worst consequences, IPCC co-chair Hans-Otto Pörtner said ahead of the publication of the report.
“There is limited time to launch successful action,” the marine biologist said. He called for a sharp reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases, along with adaptations to reduce the danger of death and injury as far as possible.
The report – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability – recommends restoring natural spaces. It also says radical changes in lifestyles are required, for example by eating less meat, as the large areas of agricultural land required often lead to deforestation with consequences for CO2 emissions.


Co-author Daniela Jacob highlighted the necessary changes in heating and transport. More cycling and less driving, more travelling by train and less flying were needed, she said.
“What is good today for me and my health is also good for the climate. A more climate-resilient world is also a cleaner world,” the meteorologist said.
The report highlights the link between preventing climate change and conserving nature and also illustrates how ill-conceived measures to prevent global warming could hit biodiversity, citing examples such as huge areas for oilseed rape or maize for the production of biofuels.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg protests against Sweden iron mine
It is the second of four reports in the IPCC’s latest assessment cycle. The first was released in August and was an analysis of the stacks of climate studies since the last major evaluation over seven years ago.
In what the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described as a “code red for humanity,” the first report called the changes to the climate “unprecedented” and projected that rapid emissions cuts were required or the world would soon blow past the Paris Agreement’s warming threshold.

Globally, the average surface temperature is about 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and barrelling towards the 1.5-degree threshold scientists say humans must stay at, or below, to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change.
That humans, through the burning of fossil fuels, intensive farming, deforestation, livestock breeding and pollution, are above all responsible for climate change is undisputed among scientists.
The Geneva-based IPCC is a UN body, so its publications are approved in advance by governments. The expert panel does not conduct its own research, but sifts through studies published over the years, in this case more than 34,000.


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Climate change

Climate change: UN body’s new report urges world to act now ‘for best chance of success’

People caught up in flooding in the town of Lismore after heavy rain in northeastern New South Wales, Australia, on Monday. Photo: via Reuters

Flooding in the town of Lismore in New South Wales on Monday. Photo: Reuters

A kayaker on Lake Oroville, California, US, during a 2021 drought. Photo: AP

Fire consumes an area in the Pantanal wetlands in Brazil in 2020. Photo: AP

Climate Change: World risks falling behind on environmental goals if natural gas pipeline binge continues, Global Energy Monitor says

A natural gas pipeline construction site in Linghai, in northeast China’s Liaoning Province on April 30, 2020. Projects worth US$89.1 billion will be exposed to stranded asset risk in China with fossil fuels expected to be phased out in coming decades. Photo: Xinhua

Singapore raises GST for first time in 15 years, taxes ultra-wealthy more to support elderly, tackle climate change

A customer browses goods inside a supermarket in Singapore. Photo: Bloomberg

Singapore’s central business district. Photo: Bloomberg

Singapore’s Finance Minister Lawrence Wong. Photo: Bloomberg

A woman passes a fashion store in Singapore’s Little India. Photo: Xinhua

From Ukraine and North Korea to Covid-19 and climate change, global crises leave us feeling helpless

People gather to celebrate a Day of Unity in Odessa, Ukraine, on February 16, as the threat of a Russian invasion remains a real and present danger. Photo: AP

Children attend a protest outside the COP26 venue in Glasgow, Britain, on November 12, 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE

Climate change: new studies highlight threat to food security in East Asia and China due to global warming

A man walks across his farm near a coal power plant in China. Photo: Getty Images

Farmers in China spray pesticides on wheat fields. The numbers of crop pests and diseases has risen since the 1970s. Photo: Getty Images 

Warmer nights may be contributing to an increase in diseases and pests in China. Photo: Getty Images

Flooding may become a more common feature of life in the northeastern parts of Asia. Photo: SCMP

From fishing and ivory bans to wetlands conservation, WWF-Hong Kong marks 40 years of progress as it faces a new threat – climate change

WWF-HK Chairman Dan Bradshaw and WWF-HK CEO Nicole Wong photographed at Mai Po Nature Reserve in New Territory, Hong Kong.

19JAN22 SCMP / Xiaomei Chen

Nicole Wong and Dan Bradshaw of WWF-Hong Kong look out over Deep Bay from a birdwatching hide at the  Mai Po nature reserve in the city’s New Territories. WWF-Hong Kong is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Photo: SCMP/Xiaomei Chen

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, speaks at the inauguration of WWF-Hong Kong in 1981. Photo: courtesy of WWF-HK

WWF-Hong Kong chairman Dan Bradshaw (left) and Nicole Wong, chief executive of the WWF-Hong Kong, at Mai Po nature reserve in the New Territories. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

A robin at Mai Po nature reserve in the New Territories. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Birdwatchers keep their eyes on the sky in the Mai Po Marshes and Nature Reserve during the Big Bird Race in 1988, one of many annual events WWF-Hong Kong organises. Photo: SCMP

After years of campaigning by the WWF-Hong Kong, the sale of elephant ivory was officially banned in Hong Kong, in 2021. Photo: Dickson Lee

In 1985, WWF-Hong Kong launched its Mai Po schools programmes, laying the foundation for sustainable education. Photo: courtesy of WWF-HK

WWF-Hong Kong campaigned for a ban on trawling in Hong Kong waters, which came into effect on January 1, 2013. Photo: Edward Wong

News

World


‘The impacts we see today are appearing much faster, they are more disruptive and more widespread than we expected 20 years ago’
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says we need to restore, rebuild, strengthen ecosystems or face dire consequences



‘The impacts we see today are appearing much faster, they are more disruptive and more widespread than we expected 20 years ago’.


United Nations

Extreme weather

Weather

Climate change: UN body’s new report urges world to act now ‘for best chance of success’

‘The impacts we see today are appearing much faster, they are more disruptive and more widespread than we expected 20 years ago’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says we need to restore, rebuild, strengthen ecosystems or face dire consequences

‘The impacts we see today are appearing much faster, they are more disruptive and more widespread than we expected 20 years ago’

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says we need to restore, rebuild, strengthen ecosystems or face dire consequences