IPCC Report on Global Warming

IPCC REPORT ON GLOBAL WARMING:

The IPCC is an intergovernmental panel on climate change a group of scientists convened by the united nations to make recommendations to world leaders. Ninety-one leading scientists from 40 countries who together examined more than 6,000 scientific studies. Specialists such as Katharine Mach, who studies new approaches to climate assessment at stanford university; Tor Arve Benjaminsen, a human geographer at the Norwegian university of life sciences; and Raman Sukumar, an ecologist at the indian institute of science.

TITLE OF REPORT: “Global warming of 1.5 °c. An IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °c above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty”

Scientists who reviewed the 6,000 works referenced in the report, said the change caused by just half a degree came as a revelation. We can see there is a difference and it’s substantial.

At 1.5c the proportion of the global population exposed to water stress could be 50% lower than at 2c, it notes. Food scarcity would be less of a problem and hundreds of millions fewer people, particularly in poor countries, would be at risk of climate-related poverty.

At 2c extremely hot days, such as those experienced in the northern hemisphere this summer, would become more severe and common, increasing heat-related deaths and causing more forest fires.

But the greatest difference would be to nature. Insects, which are vital for pollination of crops, and plants are almost twice as likely to lose half their habitat at 2c compared with 1.5c. Corals would be 99% lost at the higher of the two temperatures, but more than 10% have a chance of surviving if the lower target is reached.

This quote summarizes:

“The IPCC maps out four pathways to achieve 1.5c, with different combinations of land use and technological change. Reforestation is essential to all of them as are shifts to electric transport systems and greater adoption of carbon capture technology.”

~ Jonathan Watts, global environment editor at “The Guardian”

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