World’s Poor Most Vulnerable to Climate Change: World Bank
World’s Poor Most Vulnerable to Climate Change: World Bank
21 Nov 2012 – 00:00 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES — Without swift action on climate change, the world is looking at an average 4 degree Celsius temperature increase by the turn of the century, putting hundreds of millions of people at risk, with the world’s poor the most vulnerable, according to a new scientific report commissioned by the World Bank.
The report, “Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided,” was prepared by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and released on November 18.
It warns that an increase in average global temperatures of as much as 4 degrees Celsius would produce “cataclysmic changes” like flooding of coastal cities, more severe droughts and floods, “substantially exacerbated water scarcity in many regions,” increased food security risks, irreversible loss of biodiversity, and increased intensity of storms that are all “potentially devastating.”
“The Earth system’s responses to climate change appear to be non-linear,” points out PIK Director John Schellnhuber. “If we venture far beyond the 2 degrees guardrail, towards the 4 degrees line, the risk of crossing tipping points rises sharply. The only way to avoid this is to break the business-as-usual pattern of production and consumption.”
However, the 4-degree mark is not etched in stone, the report adds. There is still time for the proper actions to keep warmth below the 2-degree cut-off that avoids the most catastrophic changes.
“A 4-degree warmer world can, and must be, avoided – we need to hold warming below 2 degrees,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim.
“The world must tackle the problem of climate change more aggressively. Greater adaptation and mitigation efforts are essential and solutions exist. We need a global response equal to the scale of the climate problem, a response that puts us on a new path of climate smart development and shared prosperity. But time is very short.”
The report also claims that the science unequivocally points to human-induced causes of warming. The global mean temperature has already increased 0.8°C above pre-industrial levels, which may not seem like much in comparison with future concerns. However, the report says there have already been consequences of this level of warming.
The day after the World Bank report was released, a coalition of the world’s largest investors from the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia – who are responsible for managing a total of $22.5 trillion USD — issued an open letter calling on governments to take action against climate change and increase investment in clean energy.
More on this story at http://www.ooskanews.com/daily-water-briefing/world-s-poor-most-vulnerable-climate-change-world-bank_25338
