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When we talk about climate change, we often hear markers of 1.5 C and 2 C.
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As recently announced by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an increase of one-half degree in global temperature since the pre-industrial period could to make the difference between life and death for much of the planet.
At present, the Earth is about 1 ° C warmer since the pre-industrial era.
In 2015, countries agreed to limit warming to 2 ° C under the Paris Agreement, which many see as the upper threshold before irreversible and catastrophic damage is caused to the planet. A more ambitious but non-binding target of 1.5 C has also been set, at the request of more vulnerable countries calling for the 2 C warming the death penalty.
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According to the IPCC, at 1.5 ° C warming, the world can conserve "a semblance" of the ecosystems we have now.
According to the IPCC, global warming is expected to reach 1.5 ° C between 2030 and 2052.
The difference between a half-degree warming from now on and a complete warming is striking.
According to the IPCC report, with warming of 2 ° C since pre-industrial times, sea level would rise by 0.1 meter more, heat waves, droughts and showers would increase, and the ice shelf Antarctica could irreversibly melt.
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In addition, there is a chance to save the coral reefs with a warming of 1.5 C, as opposed to no chance at 2 C, according to the report.
A half degree more can seem minimal, but this number is the average of the world's temperatures, which means that some places will heat up considerably. The Arctic, for example, may be warmer by several degrees, which will increase the amount of melting ice and rising sea levels.
In addition, around the Mediterranean, freshwater availability will decrease almost twice as much at 2 C compared to warming by 1.5 C – 17% vs. 9%, according to the report.
The report also shows that extreme heat would be much more prevalent, with 37% of the world's population exposed to an extreme temperature of 2 ° C rather than 14% at a temperature of 1.5 ° C, with the tropics recording the largest increase "very unusual" heat. days.
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According to a UN report, the sea level would be higher by at least 10 centimeters by the end of the century if the warming was 2 ° C compared to 1.5 ° C, causing massive migration from areas likely to be flooded.
Unfortunately, humans are on track to exceed 2 ° C and to limit warming to 1.5 ° C, there should be immediate and drastic reductions in emissions, which the UN sees little chance of produce.
Worse still, if we stay at our current levels of emissions, we are on the way to a 4 ° C warming from pre – industrial levels by 2100, which, s & # 39; it was reached, would trigger a chain of cataclysmic changes including extreme heat waves, a decrease in global food stocks, According to the report, substantial extinctions of species and a rise in sea level that would affect hundreds of millions of people.
© 2018 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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