New IPCC summary points to ongoing climate change
When will we see climate change? Today, say scientists.
According to a report released this morning by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), there is firm evidence linking human–caused global warming with ongoing changes in the environment. Current trends indicate that climate change caused by humans will significantly reduce water access and food production in the future, especially in areas where the poor live.
That’s according to 200 scientists and experts on climate, health, agriculture, weather, and the environment working with the IPCC. Earlier today in Brussels, Belgium the IPCC released a short summary intended for policy makers of a longer, more comprehensive report to come out in November 2007.
Experts focused on the current and potential impacts of a warming world to human populations for this report summary. With “high confidence,” or about 80 percent certainty, the IPCC found scientific evidence that human–caused global warming has already disrupted weather patterns, acidified oceans, shrunk glaciers and melted sea ice.
On a more positive note, growing seasons are lengthening in response to earlier arrival of spring in many regions.
But as cooler forested areas are becoming more mild, they’re also becoming more vulnerable to pests, weeds, and wildfire, according to the IPCC.
Click here to see the IPCC summary on the impacts of climate change.
The IPCC scientists project that, if current trends continue, climate change will most affect the poor, because they are least capable of adapting to a warming world of rising seas, sudden droughts, and floods.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is an international group of over 2,500 scientists and experts from over 130 countries organized by the United Nations. Divided into three working groups and relying solely on published science, the IPCC assesses the causes, impacts, and mitigation of climate change.
The next summary report by the IPCC will focus on mitigation of the effects of climate change and is scheduled to be released on May 4, 2007.
