Many of the damaging impacts of climate change are “simply irreversible”.
This was a startling finding and a collective admission by the authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II contribution to the panel's Sixth Assessment Report released yesterday.
Yet, even as humans and nature are being pushed beyond their abilities to adapt, there is still a brief window of time to avoid the very worst, they say.
Professor Debra Roberts, co-chair of the IPCC told the media that "our report clearly indicates that places, where people live and work, may cease to exist, that ecosystems and species that we've all grown up with and that are central to our cultures and inform our languages may disappear.
“So this is really a key moment. Our report points out very clearly, this is the decade of action if we are going to turn things around."
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Spanning more than 3 600 pages with contributions from over 270 authors from across the world, including vital inputs from South African climate scientists and academics, this is the most comprehensive report yet covering the human and ecological impacts of climate change.
The group assessed the impacts of climate change, taking a look at ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities at global and regional levels.
The report also reviewed vulnerabilities and the capacities and limits of the natural world and human societies to adapt to climate change. And the outlook is not great.
It describes the heatwaves, floods, wildfires, and droughts that are already overwhelming communities and causing chain reactions of decreasing food and water availability, forced migration, conflict, public health crises, and much more.
According to the report, over 40% of the world's population are designated as "highly vulnerable" to changes in climate.
The only way to mitigate some of these changes is to keep the average global temperature below 1.5 degrees celsius. Just four months after COP26, where world leaders committed themselves to rapid action on climate change, this new UN study shows the scale of their task.
This new report focuses on solutions and highlights the importance of fundamental changes in society at the same time as conserving, restoring and safeguarding nature in order to meet the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.
The report says it is clear “minor, marginal, reactive or incremental changes won’t be sufficient. In addition to technological and economic changes, shifts in most aspects of society are required to overcome limits to adaptation, build resilience, reduce climate risk to tolerable levels, guarantee inclusive, equitable and just development and achieve societal goals without leaving anyone behind.”
The strong and interdependent relationships between climate, nature and people are fundamental to reaching these goals. This is emphasized more strongly in the new report than in previous IPCC assessments.
“We now know that a healthy planet is fundamental to secure a liveable future for people on Earth and that’s why we say that the needs of climate, nature and local communities have to be considered together and prioritised in decision making and planning, every day and in every region of our world.”