The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II (WG) report will be released on 28 February, focusing on ecosystem limitations, biodiversity hotspots and human adaptation to climate change.
The report, drawn up by the IPCC, which is monitored by the United Nations, will highlight ecosystems that may no longer tolerate the impacts of climate change and reach tipping points.
Some ecosystems are approaching a tipping point, IPCC WG II co-chair Hans-Otto Pörtner said on Thursday. Coral reefs are in decline, and about 70 to 90 percent of their surface could be affected by 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming, which will affect coastal protection and fisheries.
Other ecosystems, such as the Amazon and African rainforests, are losing their ability to absorb carbon dioxide, Portner said.
Debra Roberts, co-chair of IPCC WG II, said: “There will be a cross-section on loss and damage from the climate crisis, which documents how the physical changes caused by the climate crisis are stressing ecosystems.”
The report will also highlight how human societies, climate systems and ecosystems are interconnected, so the impacts will affect everyone. “Humans depend on ecosystem services, and species richness is an indicator of ecosystem health,” Portner said. Humans also have severe constraints, and certain parts of the planet have become uninhabitable, he added. Portner said that was specified in the report.
The report will specify hard and soft limits for adaptation. The hard limit is related to the adaptive capacity that the ecosystem has reached, while the soft limit refers to the time when the adaptive capacity has been reached but can be changed. A community that can adapt with measures such as additional funding for infrastructure is an example of a soft limit.
These changes are unprecedented, Roberts said. “We have to act now and no one at any level can be left out of this challenge, but we can’t seem to respond,” she said. Portner added: “We are at war with nature and need to turn that around. That’s the vision for human well-being.”
There will also be a chapter on the coronavirus and the climate crisis in the report. “Because of poor ecosystems, those species that act as pathogen host carriers survive best. That’s critical,” Portner said.
The report will also focus on regional priorities and information detailing human communities and their resilience and vulnerabilities.
The report is significant because there is consensus that even a 1.5°C increase would be dangerous for the planet, leading to violations of important tipping points — large biophysical elements that regulate the climate system, such as the Greenland ice sheet.
Complete News Source : Hindustan Times
