The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations has warned that humanity is not doing enough to minimize climate change’s effects. Nearly half of the world’s population is already facing increasingly hazardous climate impacts, according to the IPCC.
The IPCC has urged for massive, immediate action in its report. To assure future food and fresh water supplies, a third to half of the earth must be conserved. Storms and rising sea levels require preparations to keep people safe in coastal cities.
With the release of the report, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted, “Adaptation saves lives”. “As climate impacts worsen – and they will – scaling up investments will be essential for survival… Delay means death.”
The latest in a series of reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the 3,675-page report describes the global consensus on climate science. However, the focus of this report is on how the environment and civilizations are being affected, as well as what they may do to adapt.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine overshadowed the report’s release. Thereby, forcing the report’s sole Ukrainian author to flee the proceedings to seek refuge. But a government representative did attend the report’s final approval by over 200 nations.
Climate Report: Wake-up call
The report, according to British, Spanish, and Egyptian officials, is a wake-up call. John Kerry, the United States’ climate envoy, expressed regret that not enough had been done to adapt to climate change. He also said the report also provided a “blueprint for action.”
“Denial and delay are not strategies, they are a recipe for disaster,” Kerry said in a statement.
On practically every point, the report demonstrates that climate change is having a significantly greater influence on the world than experts had predicted. Meanwhile, countries have failed to control rising carbon emissions that are causing global warming.
“Unchecked carbon pollution is forcing the world’s most vulnerable on a frogmarch to destruction,” Guterres also said in a video address Monday. “The facts are undeniable. This abdication of leadership is criminal.”
Governments must dramatically reduce emissions to prevent uncontrolled global warming. The research claims that they can also seek to reduce suffering by adapting to the conditions of a warmer world.
To finance new technology and institutional backing will require a significant sum of money. Cities can invest in cooling facilities to assist residents in surviving heat waves. Coastal communities may likewise require new infrastructure or the relocation of entire communities.
Zinta Zommers is a report review editor with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Zinta also remarked, “The scale of transformation that we need is unprecedented in human history.”