Climate change is causing widespread loss and damage to lives, livelihoods, homes and natural habitats – with more severe effects to come, the UN has said. Already some of the impacts of global warming are irreversible, as nature and humans are pushed to the limits of their ability to adapt to rising temperatures, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said.
It has issued a “dire warning” over the grave and mounting threat global warming poses to physical and mental health, cities and coastal communities, food and water supplies, and wildlife across the world. Any further delays to curb greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to already inevitable climate change mean humanity will miss a “brief and rapidly closing window” to secure a liveable and sustainable future, the report warns.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the report as “an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership”, warning that nearly half of humanity is in the climate danger zone and many ecosystems are at the point of no return. The assessment is the second in a series of three reports from the IPCC in the latest review of climate science, which take place every seven years or so for governments.
