Climate Scientists Issues New Global Warming Alert

By Guamacice Delice

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that the global temperature is increasing at a faster pace than previously predicted, according to a major report issued on Feb 28 by 270 scientists from 67 countries.

The experts’ report warned that global warming has risen beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius causing harmful effects to both human and natural systems. The report also stressed that the science behind climate change is a “settled matter,” and that the most effective response right now is to reduce carbon dioxide pollution.

Since 2019, numerous regions have been coping with extreme weather, including storms and floods, which led to the displacement of more than 13 million people across Asia and Africa.

The report called attention to crops and trees being killed, the risk of hunger and malnutrition, water scarcity, as well as the invasion of mosquitoes, spreading diseases over new areas. 

“Climate-related risks to health, food security, water supply, human security, and economic growth are projected to increase with global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius and increase further with 2 degrees Celsius,” warned the experts on their website.  

“Beyond 1.5, we’re not going to manage on a lot of fronts,” said Maarten van Aalst, the director of Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center and one of the report’s co-authors. “If we don’t implement changes now in terms of how we deal with physical infrastructure, but also how we organize our societies, it’s going to be bad.” Hans-Otto Pörtner, a marine biologist in Germany involved in the report, warned in a New York Times article that it would be “certainly a very illusionary approach” to expect humanity to “adapt” to climate change which will worsen if nothing is done so far.