{"id":12947,"date":"2022-02-14T06:49:06","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T06:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/14\/un-to-finalize-science-report-on-how-warming-hits-home-hard\/"},"modified":"2022-02-14T06:49:06","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T06:49:06","slug":"un-to-finalize-science-report-on-how-warming-hits-home-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/14\/un-to-finalize-science-report-on-how-warming-hits-home-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"UN to finalize science report on how warming hits home hard"},"content":{"rendered":"

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BERLIN — Scientists and governments will meet Monday to finish a major United Nations report on how global warming disrupts people’s lives, their natural environment and the Earth itself. Don\u2019t expect a flowery valentine to the planet: instead an activist group predicted \u201ca nightmare painted in the dry language of science.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United Nations\u2019 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a collection of hundreds of the world\u2019s top scientists, issues three huge reports on climate change every five to seven years. The latest update, which won’t be finished until the end of February, will explain how climate change already affects humans and the planet, what to expect in the future, and the risks and benefits of adapting to a warmer world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re concerned that the physical climate around us is changing,\u201d said panel co-chair Debra Roberts, a South African environmental scientist. \u201cBut for most people in their day-to-day lives… they want to know: so what? What does it mean for their lives, their aspirations, their jobs, their families, the places where they live.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report features seven regional chapters \u201cabout how physical changes in the climate change people\u2019s lives,\u201d she said. And she said it will have a strong emphasis on cities.<\/p>\n

Even without seeing the final report, activists call it a warning sign for the planet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe IPCC\u2019s horrifying evidence of escalating climate impacts is set to show a nightmare painted in the dry language of science,\u201d Teresa Anderson, who heads climate justice issues at ActionAid International, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Scientists won\u2019t yet say specifically what\u2019s in the report because its critical summary is still subject to intense negotiation between the authors and governments over next two weeks, with consensus needed for the final version. The meeting opens with a press event Monday in Berlin. Drafts that have circulated publicly will be changed, sometimes dramatically.<\/p>\n

Last August, the first of the three reports, which prompted the U.N. to declare \u201ccode red, \u201d outlined the physical science of climate change while a third report coming out in March will be more about what can be done to curb and adapt to global warming.<\/p>\n

Without getting into specifics, report co-chair Hans-Otto Poertner said the science is clear that there are limits \u2014 including temperature limits \u2014 to what key ecosystems, species and humans can withstand. And in some places, warming is near those limits and in a few cases, such as much of the world\u2019s coral reefs, have even passed them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are losing living spaces for species and for ourselves as well,\u201d Poertner, a German biologist said in a press briefing last week. \u201cBecause with climate change, some parts of the planet would become uninhabitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report will also address ways to adapt to an ever warming world, including how some technological fixes may have unwanted side effects.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some countries in the Northern Hemisphere, there has been an assumption (of) \u2018Oh, well, if we cannot control climate change, we just let it go and we adapt to it. So we adapt out of the impacts of climate change\u2019,\u2019\u2019 Poertner said. \u201cAnd this is certainly a very illusionary approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Environmentalists argue that the extreme weather already seen in parts of the world in recent years shows how urgent it is for governments to address the rising cost of climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe forthcoming IPCC report will confirm what we already know about the crushing toll of heatwaves, drought, floods, storms, wildfires and ocean acidification for people and critical ecosystems,” said Rachel Cleetus of the Union of Concerned Scientists. \u201cThis comprehensive scientific assessment will underscore how much worse the climate crisis is likely to get if we fail to take bold global action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poertner warned of \u201ctipping points\u201d and a risk of mass extinction like the one that did away with Earth\u2019s dinosaurs.<\/p>\n

These reports \u2014 which earned the science panel a Nobel peace prize in 2007 \u2014 are used when governments meet every year to negotiate how to curb climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need not just incremental change,\u201d Roberts said at a United Nations Foundation briefing last week. \u201cYou need systemic change.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Read more of AP\u2019s climate coverage at http:\/\/www.apnews.com\/Climate<\/p>\n

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Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears and Frank Jordans at @wirereporter.<\/p>\n

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute\u2019s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n