Planet on red alert: UN warns of “irreversible” and “unprecedented” effects of climate change

A new United Nations (UN) climate change report shows that climate is changing across the world on an unprecedented scale. Experts point out that some of the changes undergone “They will be irreversible for thousands if not hundreds of thousands of years”.

UN Secretary General António Guterres stressed that it is “A code red for humanity. The warning signs are deafening and the evidence is irrefutable”.

Research, developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, indicates that the world has warmed by 1.1 ° C from the period 1850-1900 to the present day. Responsibility for damage lies with the greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activities.

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In turn, the study warns that in the next 20 years, the global temperature could reach or exceed 1.5 ° C or more heater. Unless there is an immediate large-scale reduction in greenhouse gases, limiting the increase in the Earth’s average temperature to this barrier or even to 2 ° will be impossible to achieve, according to the publication.

On this alarming data, based on information gathered by scientists around the world, the UN chief said the internationally agreed global warming threshold of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels was “dangerously close to “. And he stressed “We must act decisively now, to keep this threshold alive.”

Besides the extreme increase in temperature, other consequences of climate change on the planet are the intensification of rains, floods and droughts; but also melting ice, loss of snow and melting glaciers.

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Changes in every corner of the earth

The report notes that while the climate depends on the level of global warming, each region experiences it differently. And he illustrates this by saying that the warming of the Earth’s surface is above the average for the planet and in the Arctic it is up to twice as much.

Climate change research projects will multiply in all regions over the coming decades. It also includes alterations in humidity and drought, winds, snow and ice, and in coastal areas.

By reaching a Increase of 1.5 ° C there will be more heatwaves, the hot seasons will be longer and the cold seasons will be shorter. And in the event of a climb 2 ° C, “episodes of extreme heat will be more frequent and critical tolerance limits for health and agriculture will be reached”.

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The specific effects of climate change according to the UN

• Intensification of the water cycle: More intense rains, floods and droughts.
• Increased precipitation in high latitudes and decrease in subtropics.
• Sea level rise will continue in coastal areas, contributing to greater flooding in lower areas and greater erosion.
• Amplification of the permafrost layer melting and seasonal snow loss, as well as the melting of glaciers and the loss of the arctic layer during the summer.
• The impact of marine ecosystems through changes in the ocean (warming with larger marine heat waves, continued acidification of the water, decrease in oxygen levels).
• In cities, the increase in heat will continue.