Up to 14 per cent of species face a very high risk of extinction – IPCC
On February 25, 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published the second instalment of its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) February 27, 2022, that read like an apocalyptic story of the Earth’s dying ecosystem resulting from climate change – species extinction, more widespread disease, unliveable heat, ecosystem collapse, cities menaced by rising seas and other devastating climate impacts.
The report titled “Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” is compiled by 270 authors from 67 countries incorporating research from more than 34,000 scientific papers, identifies 127 risks to natural and human systems. It stresses on the interconnections among climate, biodiversity and human well-being — a critical link that is often overlooked in an environmental analysis.
Some its takeaways are as follows:
• Most populated regions at high risk.: Cities with more than half of the world’s population are at the highest risk from climate change. Globally, about 3.3-3.6 billion people are highly vulnerable to climate change.
• The poor will be most hurt: Climate impacts do not distinguish between borders but the poorest are hit the hardest. Low-income populations face the largest gap in adaptation action, in terms of what is happening versus what is needed.
• Every degree of rise in warming increases risks: “Projected adverse impacts as well as related losses and damages escalate with every increment of global warming, “said the report. Up to 14 percent of species face a very high risk of extinction at global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C) over pre-industrial levels. The risk increases to 29 per cent at 3°C and 39 per cent at 4°C of global warming.
• Some changes are irreversible: Some climate change-driven losses, such as the extinction of species, are irreversible. Others are approaching irreversibility with accelerating climate change. These include the retreat of glaciers and thawing of permafrost, particularly in the Arctic region.
• If global average temperature rise temporarily crosses the 1.5°C — known as the “overshoot” scenario — critical and fragile ecosystems will be lost, even if temperatures are brought down (theoretically, using carbon dioxide removal technologies like direct air capture). This will be disastrous for biodiversity.
• Impact on health, food, agriculture: Climate change has conclusively affected the physical and mental health of people around the world. Human society will increasingly face heat stress, water scarcity, threats to food security and flood risks as the crisis worsens.
• At 2°C of warming, people in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Small Island Developing States will face severe food shortages and malnutrition.
• In case of some regions and population groups, the limits to adaptation may have been reached. This is particularly for people living in the low-lying areas of Australasia and Small Islands, smallholder farmers in central and south America, Africa, Europe and Asia.
• To reap further benefits from adaptation, other constraints need to be overcome such as poor governance, climate literacy and access to finance.
• Current global financial flows for climate action are insufficient. They are mostly targeted at emissions reductions, with a small proportion going towards adaptation. As climate impacts worsen, economic growth will slow down and thus, reduce the availability of financial resources for vulnerable regions.
• Urgent need for more finance, political commitment
