Climate change-induced melting of the planet’s ice caps and glaciers will flood coastal and mountainous areas in the next 30 years. As many as one billion people will feel the immediate effects of the climate crisis and no part of the planet will be spared from disaster. The dire warning was presented today in a new United Nation’s IPCC 2019 report, released in Monaco. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which contributed to the report, condemned the report’s findings and urged world leaders to act now.
Dr Stephen Cornelius, WWF’s chief adviser on climate change, said: “We cannot gamble with people’s lives. Weak country climate pledges mean we probably have better odds of breaking the bank at the Monte Carlo casino than limiting global warming to 1.5C.
“The politics can’t change the science. Given the stakes, leaders must act now to ensure a positive future for the planet and invest in rapid and deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions as well as significantly increasing funding for resilience and adaptation.
“The UK must play its part by delivering on its world leading climate promises and helping galvanise urgent global action when world leaders gather in Chile in December and in Glasgow in 2020.”
The IPCC, or the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is a body of the UN dedicated to evaluating the impact of unchecked climate change.
Since 2015, the IPCC has released regular reports on the state of the climate with the recommended course of action for governments to take.
Among its chief findings, is the call to limit global warming to just 1.5C degrees of pre-industrial temperatures.
Global warming beyond this threshold threatens to irreversibly disrupt climate patterns and destroy entire ecosystems.
The document published today (September 25) focuses on the impact suffered by Earth’s polar and glacial regions.
The report is dubbed Oceans & Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.
The report shows changes in the planet’s oceans and cryosphere – snow and ice-covered regions – will suffer if global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are not slashed.
We cannot gamble with people’s lives
Dr Stephen Cornelius, WWF
However, the IPCC noted changes will continue to affect these parts of the planet even if the climate is stabilised.
The loss of ice in polar regions is already drastically reducing the habitat of wild penguins and walruses.
The WWF has called on the UK Government to counteract the climate crisis and “talk the walk” by reducing greenhouse emissions.
Rod Downie, WWF’s chief polar adviser, said: “I like to think of ice as one of humanity’s best investments. It’s a bit like having capital in your bank account. And we want it to stay there.
“We want the ice to remain in the polar regions. But instead we’re eating into it, we’re dissolving it.
“We’re spending that capital and that has really dramatic consequences for people in the Arctic, and for people across the world, including here in the UK.”
The report follows the UN’s Climate Action Summit in New York City on Monday, September 23.
The UK will also host the 26th Conference of the Parties in Glasgow next year – a major UN climate change summit.
The WWF said the UK must be willing to take a strong stance at the summit and lead by example.
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