Climate impacts are to hit sooner than expected: UN Report

NEW DELHI: As suggested by the landmark draft report by United Nation Organisation (UNO), the climate change will affect the life on Earth in the coming decade even if humans try and control the emissions of Green House Gases (GHGs). Events such as extinction of species, widespread diseases, unliveable heat, collapse of ecosystem and cities menaced by the rising seas are the obvious consequences which people will face after around 30 years from present, the report added.

The dangerous thresholds of the climate change are closer than expected and the dire consequences stemming from decades of unbridled carbon pollution are unavoidable in the coming future. The report also said that the challenges posed by it are systematic and unfair as those who are least responsible for the global warming will suffer disproportionately. The report warned that the previous major climate shocks dramatically ended the species and changed the environment. It raises question that whether the humans are sowing seeds for their own demise.

The key takeaways from the report include increase of 1.1 Celsius of warming recorded so far and hence climate of the Earth is already changing. The goal enshrined in the 2015 Paris Agreement of capping the global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. However, with the current trend, the world is headed for three degrees rise in temperature at best, the report said.

One more major takeaway from the report is that the world must face its reality and prepare for tackling the effects of climate change as the current levels of adaptation will not help in the future. The scientists have also pointed towards the point-of-no-return thresholds in the climate which are known as tipping points and the experts have just begun to understand and measure this.