CLIMATE CHANGE

IMPACTS

Main Predicted Impacts

On Agriculture :

Shifts in food-growing areas

Changes in crop yields
Increased irrigation demands
Increased pests, crop diseases
and weeds in warmer areas

Impacts cont.

On Water Resources :
Changes in water supply
Decreased water quality
Increased drought
Increased flooding

Impacts cont.

On Forests :
Changes in forest composition
Disappearance of some forests
Increase in forest fires
Loss of wildlife habitat and
species

Impacts cont.

On Biodiversity :
Extinction of some plant and
animal species
Loss of habitats
Disruption of aquatic life

Impacts cont.

On Sea Level and Coastal Areas :

Rising sea levels
Flooding of low-lying islands and
coastal cities
Beach erosion
Saline water intrusion
Disruption of coastal fisheries

Impacts cont.

On Weather :
Prolonged heat waves and
droughts
Increased flooding from more
frequent, intense and heavy
rainfall in some areas

Impacts cont.

On Human Population:
Increased deaths
More environmental refugees
Increased migration

Impacts cont.

On Human Health:
Spread of tropical diseases
Increased respiratory disease and
pollen allergies
Increased deaths from heat and
diseases
Disruption of food and water
supplies
Increased water pollution from

Warmer temperatures mean

greater evaporation, and a
warmer atmosphere is able
to hold more moisture -hence there is more water
aloft that can fall as
precipitation.

Dry regions are apt to lose still

more moisture if the weather is
hotter; this exacerbates
droughts and desertification.
Droughts are becoming more
severe as world temperatures
increase.

More frequent and powerful

cyclones and hurricanes, more
frequent and intense floods
and droughts -- a recent
increase in "extreme weather
events" has been too
pronounced to explain away as
random.

In Africa's large catchment basins

of Niger, Lake Chad, and Senegal,
total available water has
decreased by 40 to 60 per cent,
and desertification has been
worsened by lower average
annual rainfall, runoff, and soil
moisture, especially in southern,
northern, and western Africa.

The Rhine floods of 1996 and 1997,

the Chinese floods of 1998, the East
European floods of 1998 and 2002,
the Mozambique and European
floods of 2000, and the monsoonbased flooding of 2004 in Bangladesh
(which left 60 per cent of the country
under water), are an indication that
storms indeed are growing more
powerful.

The decline of winter

Glaciers retreated significantly during the 20th century.

Arctic air temperatures

increased by about 5
degrees C during the 20th
century -- ten times faster
than the global-mean
surface temperature.

Snow cover has declined

by some 10 per cent in the
mid- and high latitudes of
the Northern Hemisphere
since the late 1960s.

The annual duration of

lake and river ice cover
apparently shortened
by about two weeks
during the 20th
century.

Almost all mountain glaciers in

non-polar regions retreated
during the 20th century. The
overall volume of glaciers in
Switzerland decreased by twothirds.

Shifts in the natural world

As computer models predict, severe storms are

occurring more frequently.

some plants previously found

only on mountaintops have
disappeared.

In Europe, mating and egg-laying

of some bird species has
occurred earlier in the season -in the United Kingdom, for
example, egg-laying by 20 of 65
species, including long-distance
migrants, advanced by an
average of eight days between
1971 and 1995.

Across Europe, the growing

season in controlled, mixedspecies gardens lengthened by
10.8 days from 1959 to 1993.
Butterflies, dragonflies, moths,
beetles, and other insects are
now living at higher latitudes and
altitudes, where previously it
was too cold to survive.

Future Effects
..A question of degree

Even the minimum predicted shifts

in climate for the 21st century are
likely to be significant and
disruptive.

Estimates of upcoming changes are

wide-ranging. The global
temperature may climb from 1.4 to
5.8 degrees C; the sea level may rise
from 9 to 88 cm.

Increases in sea level this

century are expected to
range from significant to
catastrophic.

Sea levels already have risen by

10 to 20 cm over pre-industrial
averages and are certain to
climb farther.
A future of more severe storms and
floods along the world's increasingly
crowded coastlines is likely, and will be
a bad combination even under the
minimum scenarios forecast.

Where dry-land agriculture relies

solely on rain, as in sub-Saharan
Africa, yields would decrease
dramatically even with minimal
increases in temperature.
Such changes could cause
disruptions in food supply in a world is
already afflicted with food shortages
and famines.

Salt-water intrusion from rising

sea levels will reduce the quality
and quantity of freshwater
supplies.
This is a major concern, since
billions of people already lack
access to freshwater.

Higher ocean levels already are

contaminating underground water
sources in Israel and Thailand, in
various small island states in the
Pacific and Indian Oceans and the
Caribbean Sea, and in some of the
world's most productive deltas,
such as China's Yangtze Delta and
Vietnam's Mekong Delta.

Most of the world's endangered

species -- some 25 per cent of
mammals and 12 per cent of
birds -- may become extinct over
the next few decades as warmer
conditions alter the forests,
wetlands, and rangelands they
depend on, and human
development blocks them from
migrating elsewhere.

Higher temperatures are

expected to expand the
range of some dangerous
"vector-borne" diseases,
such as malaria, which
already kills 1 million people
annually, most of them
children.

What Can Be Done

Measures -- heavily dependent on
teamwork and political will -- can slow
the rate of global warming and help the
world cope with the climate shifts that
occur.

Reducing emissions
Burning oil and coal more
efficiently, switching to renewable
forms of energy, such as solar and
wind power, and developing new
technologies for industry and
transport can attack the problem at
the source

Cutting fossil fuel use while

maintaining economic growth will be a
major challenge.

Wind turbines may partially replace fuelpowered electricity generation.

Expanding forests
Trees remove carbon dioxide, the
dominant greenhouse gas, from the
atmosphere. The more we have, the
better.
But deforestation -- the current trend -liberates additional carbon and makes
global warming worse.

Forests are a major ally in

combating global warming.

Changing lifestyles and rules

The cultures and habits of
millions of people -- essentially,
whether they waste energy or use
it efficiently -- have a major impact
on climate change.
So do government policies and
regulations.

Lifestyles featuring heavy automobile use

contribute significantly to global warming.