YOKOHAMA,
Japan — Climate change is already having sweeping effects on every continent
and throughout the world’s oceans, scientists reported on Monday,
and they warned that the problem was likely to grow substantially worse unless
greenhouse emissions are brought under control.
The report by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations group that
periodically summarizes climate science,
concluded that ice caps are melting, sea ice in the Arctic is collapsing, water
supplies are coming under stress, heat waves and heavy rains are intensifying,
coral reefs are dying, and fish and many other creatures are migrating toward
the poles or in some cases going extinct.
The
oceans are rising at a pace that threatens coastal communities and are becoming
more acidic as they absorb some of the carbon dioxide given off by cars and
power plants, which is killing some creatures or stunting their growth, the
report found.
Organic
matter frozen in Arctic soils since before civilization began is now melting,
allowing it to decay into greenhouse gases that will cause further warming, the
scientists said. And the worst is yet to come, the scientists said in the
second of three reports that are expected to carry considerable weight next
year as nations try to agree on a new global climate treaty.
In
particular, the report emphasized that the world’s food supply is at
considerable risk — a threat that could have serious consequences for the
poorest nations.
“Nobody
on this planet is going to be untouched by the impacts of climate
change,” Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the intergovernmental panel,
said at a news conference here on Monday presenting the report.
The
report was among the most sobering yet issued by the scientific panel. The
group, along with Al Gore, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for its
efforts to clarify the risks of climate change. The report is the final work of
several hundred authors; details from the drafts of this and of the last report
in the series, which will be released in Berlin in April, leaked in the last few
months.
The
report attempts to project how the effects will alter human society in coming
decades. While the impact of global warming may actually be moderated by
factors like economic or technological change, the report found, the
disruptions are nonetheless likely to be profound. That will be especially so
if emissions are allowed to continue at a runaway pace, the report said.
It
cited the risk of death or injury on a wide scale, probable damage to public
health, displacement of people and potential mass migrations. Continue
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