As I said before my vacation, I write this week an article on the second part of AR4, the fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC.
The final version of this reporst was hard to finish as many parts raised discussions with polluting nations like the United States, China or Russia. I will give below a few conclusions included in this report.
First and foremost, around thirty percent of flora and fauna would be lost if temperatures rose by 1.5 to 2.5 °C. This would represent a huge lost for biodiversity and Mankind.
On the local scale, global warming would strike North America with increased heatwaves and more violent storms like the Katrina Hurricane in 2005.
Climate change would have a strong but inequal impact in Europe during the next century. The southern regions would face the changes first as northern region would be in unhurt at the beginning. As an example, the Alps would lose a third of ski resorts with an increase of just 2°C of global temperature increase and two thirds if the temperatures rose by 4°C.
Concerning Asia, there will be more floods, droughts and water scarcity crises. These phenomena would be aggravated by the populations and the demographic pressure on land and natural ressources.
The artic region is particularly threatened by climage change with a loss of most icecaps and permafrost. The fate of Antarctica is to date still uncertain.
Beyond more than 2°C, global warming would have negative impacts of all world regions. For Mexico and Amazonia, savannah is gaining in Latin America and desertification spreads. With the upcoming droughts to come, agriculture will be threatened on this continent and thus famine risks would rise.
By 2050, according to the Figaro article, 50 percent of agricultural places would be endangered in Latin America.
As we can see with all the above elements, if nothing was done, and even if strong actions were taken, Mankind will have to face very important issues due to the increased temperatures.
Increased temperatures can be fought by a better insulation of housings and buildings or can be handled with air conditioning. One solution is sustainable when the other would lead to higher energy consumptions and thus, the release of additional greenhouse gases. As one can see, insulation for housing is a worldwide need.
Famine would concern even more people as nowadays. Poor nations, already struggling now, will be more endangered tomorrow. The third and final part of AR4 will be released in May 2007.
Sources : Le Figaro