|
Climate change will lead
to floods, droughts, the extinction of a quarter of world species
and wipe whole countries off the globe.
"I stand before you as a representative
of an endangered people. [...] [As] a result of global warming
and sea level rise, my country, the Maldives, may, some time
during the next century, disappear from the face of the Earth."
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, President of the Republic of the Maldives
Sea levels rising up to 1m over the next century
is potentially the most catastrophic effect of global warming,
as this could cause whole countries like the Maldives to disappear
and put other low-lying countries, such as the Netherlands at
risk.
Weather extremes such as floods, droughts, storms
and heatwaves, will continue to increase both in number and
intensity. Scientifically, it will remain difficult to clearly
link single freak weather events to man-made climate change.
However, evidence is piling up. Floods in Mozambique, forest
fires in Indonesia, hurricanes in South America or heatwaves
in Europe are adding to the huge social, economic, environmental
and human costs of climate change.
Ice caps and glaciers are already melting; existing
deserts will grow, leaving large parts of the planet uninhabitable
due to severe water shortages. Extreme droughts may affect up
to 3 billion people by 2050. Radical weather patterns will threaten
food supply.
A recent study has warned that rising temperatures
will trigger a global animal and plant species extinction of
unprecedented proportions. A quarter of known animal and plant
species may eventually die out over the next 50 years, causing
a major threat to the human population since we rely on nature
for our survival.
Big insurance companies have calculated the insurance
costs of global warming alone, will increase over the next 10
years to about €125 billion a year. Development organisations
estimate that disasters attributable to climate change could
cost developing countries more than €5.5 trillion over
the next 20 years.
|
