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Nations vulnerable to climate change have warned they are on the brink of extinction if no action is taken.
The warning from a group of developing countries comes after a landmark UN report argued that global warming could make parts of the world uninhabitable.
World leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, called the report a “wake-up call for the world”.
But some of the strongest reactions to its findings have come from the countries that are expected to be hardest hit.
“We pay with our lives for the carbon emitted by someone else,” said Mohamed Nasheed, a former president of the Maldives who represents nearly 50 countries vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
The Maldives are the lowest country in the world and Mr Nasheed said projections by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) would be “devastating” for the nation, putting it on the brink. of extinction.
According to the latest IPCC report, heat waves, heavy rains and droughts will become more frequent and extreme. The UN chief called it a “red code for humanity”.
The report says there is “unequivocal” evidence that humans are to blame for the rising temperatures. Over the next two decades, temperatures are expected to rise 1.5 ° C above pre-industrial levels, he adds.
This could lead to a sea level rise of half a meter, but a rise of 2 m by the end of the century cannot be ruled out.
This could have a devastating impact on low-lying coastal countries, said Diann Black-Layne, Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda and senior climate negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States.
“It’s our very future over there,” Ms. Black-Layne said.
The report comes less than three months before a key climate summit in Glasgow known as COP26.
Boris Johnson, who hosts the conference, said the report showed help was needed for countries most affected by climate change.
“Today’s report is sobering read, and it is clear that the next decade is going to be crucial in securing the future of our planet,” he said.
“We know what needs to be done to limit global warming – make coal history and switch to clean energy sources, protect nature and provide climate finance to countries on the front lines. “
Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, more than 190 governments agreed that the world should limit global warming to 2 ° C or ideally 1.5 ° C above pre-industrial levels.
But the new report says that in all scenarios, both targets will be exceeded this century unless huge carbon reductions take place.
US climate envoy John Kerry said to meet the goals countries urgently needed to change their economies.
“This is the critical decade for action, and COP26 in Glasgow must be a turning point in this crisis,” said Mr Kerry.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg, who confirmed on Monday that she would attend the COP26 talks, said the report “confirms what we already know … that we are in an emergency.”
“We can still avoid the worst consequences, but not if we continue as today, and not without treating the crisis as a crisis,” she said on Twitter.
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