Global warming is already affecting people and nature
Global warming and climate change are affecting the well-being of people and the survival of plants and animals around the world.
A study released by WWF shows global warming could fundamentally alter one third of plant and animal habitats by the end of this century, and a study published in Nature reveals that climate change could result in the extinction of more than a million terrestrial species in the next fifty years. Rare species, fragmented ecosystems and areas already under pressure from pollution and deforestation are the most vulnerable.
The situation is becoming critical
The world is warming faster than at any time in the last 10,000 years. The 1990s was the hottest decade in the past millennium. As global warming tightens its grip, its effects are being felt from the highest mountain peaks to deep in the oceans, and from the Equator to the poles.
- Global warming is melting glaciers in every region of the world, putting millions of people at risk from floods, droughts and lack of drinking water.
- In 2002, the extent of the Arctic ice was 14% below the average of the last 24 years, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center in the United States. This was confirmed by NASA research published in the same month.
- A report released by WWF and leading meteorologists shows that human-induced global warming was a key factor in the severity of the 2002 drought in Australia, generally seen as the worst ever.
- 2003, Scotland's hottest year on record, saw hundreds of adult salmon die in rivers across Scotland, as rivers became too warm for salmon to be able to extract enough oxygen from the water.
- Food shortages linked to warming seas led to hundreds of thousands of seabird deaths off the coast of California.
- Coral reefs around the world have been severely damaged by unusually warm ocean temperatures. At the current rate of degradation, the entire Great Barrier Reef could be dead within a human lifetime. Destructive fishing practices, pollution, coastal development and climate change are all taking their toll.
- Cities like Athens, Chicago, Milan, New Delhi and Paris have sweltered under heat waves. The 2003 summer heat wave in Europe killed 14,800 people in France, according to official figures released in September 2003, and 4,200 in Italy. The French National Institute for Health and Medical Research said that the death rate was on average 60% higher than usual for the time of year.
- Rising sea levels threaten entire nations on low-lying islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
In the future...
- Super-hurricanes (DOC: 22.0 KB) like Mitch and Floyd could well become more commonplace. Read the press release.
- Floods, drought and the spread of infectious diseases, like malaria, into new areas will put food and water resources under severe stress. Global warming could spark regional conflicts as large numbers of environmental refugees are driven from their homes.
- The rapid rate of global warming puts one-third of the world's forests at risk, as well as the species that depend on forests for their survival.
Source: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/climate_change/problems
/impacts/index.cfm
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