The past decade has seen an astonishing run of record-breaking storms, forest fires, droughts, coral bleaching, heat waves, and floods around the world with just 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1.0 degrees Celsius) of global warming. [See: Hidden Costs of Climate Change Running Hundreds of Billions a Year] But much of this will get substantially worse with 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit of warming, and far worse at 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius), according to the IPCC’s “Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C”, released Sunday and examining more than 6,000 studies.
The IPCC also reported that 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit could be reached in as little as 11 years—and almost certainly within 20 years without major cuts in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Even if such cuts were to begin immediately it would only delay, not prevent, 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit of global warming.
“Substantial Consequences”
While a 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit (0.5 degrees Celsius) increase in room temperature is unnoticeable, permanently heating the whole planet that much will have “substantial” consequences, the report warns. The impacts will be felt across ecosystems and human communities and economies. Canoes are vital for transportation on the rainforest rivers of the Republic of the Congo. The Congo Basin’s 500 million acres of tropical forest, second-largest in the world after the
A scarlet macaw is caught munching a snack in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. These birds are best known for their loud cackles, four-toed feet, and brilliant plumage.
Limited space in dense rain forests results in many unique plants, like this fig tree in the Philippines, which produces fruit on runners that come from its trunk instead of on its branches.
Moss drapes a stand of Sitka spruce in the Hoh River Valley, a U.S. temperate rain forest in Washington State. Trees here often host plants that grow on other plants, such as moss.
The rhinoceros hornbill is named for its characteristic “casque,” the strange structure situated on top of the bird’s bill. The uses of this “horn” aren’t fully understood but casques may play. The red-eyed tree frog is an icon of the Central American rainforest. When asleep, it’s green color provides effective camouflage. When threatened, the red of suddenly-exposed eyes or legs may startle predators and enable an escape. Female frogs lay eggs on leaves overhanging water so that their tadpoles will fall into ponds. The tadpoles feed on insects in the water until they develop into frogs and take to the trees.
Sunny rays penetrate the canopy of an Indonesian rainforest on Nias Island. Rainforests are among the Earth’s most biologically diverse habitats. Their fauna and flora are precious for
Climbers John “Razor Sharp” Benson weaves through skin-ripping pinnacles. In Malagasy, the formations are called tsingy, meaning “where one cannot walk barefoot.” The terrain
Moss-draped trees, shrubs, and ferns adorn the Hoh River Valley, a temperate rain forest in Washington State’s Olympic National Park. Its trees include big leaf maples, western hemlock, and Sitka spruce.
Moss-draped conifers and ferns populate Quinault, a Pacific rain forest in Washington State’s Olympic National Park. The Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Foul-smelling skunk cabbage bloom along the Quinault River in Washington’s Hoh River Valley temperate rain forest. The Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Fog crowns towering conifers, such as Douglas fir and yellow cedar, in the Pacific temperate rain forests of Vancouver, British Columbia. Temperate rainforests get much of their water from moisture-laden ocean winds.
A U.S. temperate rain forest, the Hoh River Valley is part of Washington State’s Olympic National Park. Its trees include big leaf maples, western hemlock, and Sitka spruce.
“Limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared with 2°C would reduce challenging impacts on ecosystems, human health, and well-being,” said Priyardarshi Shukla, Chair of the Global Centre for Environment and Energy at Ahmedabad University in India and co-author of the Special Report, in a statement. Such impacts include stronger storms, more erratic weather, dangerous heat waves, rising seas, and large-scale disruption to infrastructure and migration patterns.
Climate change impacts worse than expected, the global report warns
The scientific findings in the main report are summarized in a 34-page “Summary for Policy Makers,” which was approved by all representatives from 195 nations, including the U.S.
Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, every country in the world agreed to keep global temperatures well below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius), while low-lying island states and others lobbied for substantially less. Current pledges to cut CO2 emissions will push global warming to at least 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) by 2100, risking natural tipping points such as thawing of large areas of permafrost—which could drive global temperatures uncontrollably higher. The Trump administration has said they will pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement.
Global warming is like being in a minefield that gets progressively more dangerous, says Michael Mann, a climatologist, and director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State. “The further we go the more explosions we are likely to set off: 1.5C is safer than 2C, 2C is safer than 2.5C, 2.5C is safer than 3C, and so on,” said Mann, who was not directly involved in this latest IPCC report.
“Stabilizing global warming at 1.5C will be extremely difficult if not impossible at this point,” Mann said via email.
