The UN warns in a new report that urgent action against climate change is necessary "to guarantee a decent future"

By Denise Chow—

Climate change is no longer a distant threat, but a catastrophe that is already endangering humans and natural environments around the world, according to an urgent new United Nations report that says

The report, released Monday by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), highlights the growing risk that climate change poses to human health, infrastructure, the stability of food and water resources, and the biodiversity of the planet's ecosystems. 

The evaluation, prepared by 270 scientists from 67 countries that make up the so-called Working Group II of the IPCC, represents a broad consensus within the research community on how global warming is affecting people and the environment, and the possible consequences of inaction.

"The scientific evidence is unequivocal

," said Hans-Otto Pörtner, climatologist and co-chair of IPCC Working Group II.

“Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a short and rapidly closing window to secure a livable future,” he added.

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The report concludes that humanity will face multiple climate risks in the coming decades if global warming exceeds 1.5°C (2.7°F).

Human-caused climate change has already contributed to the planet warming by about 1.1ºC (2ºF) above pre-industrial levels.

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The effect of climate change on the

is of particular

Heat waves, droughts and floods, all exacerbated by climate change, have already exposed millions of people around the world to severe food and water insecurity, according to the report.

Villagers make a dam with mud in plastic bags to protect their only road in Pratap Nagar, which is located in the Shyamnagar region of Satkhira, Bangladesh, on October 5, 2021. Mahmoud Hossain Opu / AP

"Overall, the picture is bleak for food systems," one of the report's authors, Rachel Bezner Kerr, a professor of global development at Cornell University, told a news conference on Sunday.

“There is no one who is not affected by climate change,” she noted.

Although climate change is expected to affect all regions of the planet, the assessment found that people in Africa, Asia, South and Central America are especially vulnerable and at higher risk of negative consequences, including death.

People in the Arctic and small island countries also bear an unequal burden from climate impacts, according to the report.

Bezner Kerr asserted that taking strong action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow the pace of climate change will help reduce the most dire consequences of global warming, adding that "every amount of warming that occurs will increase the risk of serious impacts." ”.

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The IPCC report also highlighted the growing threat of global warming to human health, including the impact of climate change on people's mental well-being, something unprecedented in the IPCC.

New research has shown, for example, that increased exposure to heat waves, wildfires and other extreme weather events can affect mental health.

Among the dire warnings in the new assessment is the fact that

including lower-income populations and low-lying coastal regions at risk. of sea level rise.

Many of the risks compounded by climate change are intertwined with problems these communities already face, such as rising social inequality, unsustainable use of natural resources, loss and damage from disasters and other extreme weather events. and the current repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“Our assessment clearly shows that addressing all these different challenges requires everyone – governments, the private sector and civil society – to work together to prioritize risk reduction as well as equity and justice, in decision-making and investment,” Working Group II co-chair Debra Roberts, head of the Sustainable and Resilient Cities Initiatives Unit at eThekwini Township in Durban, South Africa, said in a statement.

The cost of inaction, on the other hand, could be devastating, according to the report.

In addition to threats to humans, climate change is causing irreversible impacts on certain species and ecosystems, said one of the report's authors, Camille Parmesan, an associate professor of geological sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.

"It's very, very clear that wild species and natural systems are already being pushed to the harshest limits,

" Parmesan said.

“That is why we are seeing how species become extinct.

That is why we are seeing that the most sensitive ecosystems - mountain tops, the High Arctic - are undergoing massive changes."

John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy for climate, said the IPCC assessment paints a

of how humanity is already being affected by global warming and points to the risks of ignoring climate science.

"The question at the moment is not whether we can avoid the crisis altogether, but whether we can avoid the worst consequences."

John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy for climate

“We have seen the rise of extreme weather events, and the damage they leave behind: lives lost and livelihoods ruined,” Kerry said in a statement.

The IPCC, created in the late 1980s, is made up of thousands of scientists from 195 member governments who pore over the latest published and peer-reviewed research on global warming and compile the findings into a report on the current state of the world. climate.

The new report is part of the latest IPCC summary on climate change, called the Sixth Assessment Report, or AR6.