UN report: One million species of animals and plants are threatened with extinction

Although the option to adapt is available - according to the report 

Only small changes in current systems have emerged from it so far, rather than transformational changes.

A UN report issued on Monday, February 28, states that about one million species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction due to climate change, adding that 91% of deaths resulting from weather hazards occur in developing countries.

This came in the second part of a report issued, on Monday, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), of the United Nations, of which Al Jazeera Net obtained a copy of its summary. The report is the sixth of its kind after a fifth report issued in 2014, and focuses on “impacts, adaptation and changeability” in light of climate change.

In August 2021, the Commission published the first part of its sixth report , in which it predicted that greenhouse gases resulting from human activities caused approximately 1.1 degrees Celsius of global warming by 2010-2019, compared to the period between 1850 and 1900, and expected that the degree of global warming will reach Global temperature is 1.5°C of warming, or greater than, over the next 20 years.

Extinction and land degradation

As a result of climate change and land degradation, the international body has indicated that one million animal and plant species are on the brink of extinction, many of them within decades.

She said only about 15 percent of the land and just under 8 percent of the oceans are subject to some form of ecosystem protection.

She explained that climate change is currently affecting at least 10,967 species on the Red List of Threatened Species, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN).

The report warns that climate risks that negatively affect ecosystems will also reduce the services that systems provide to society, and may reduce access to energy, health care, water and international trade. He says research has shown that human-induced climate change could cover 80% of the world's land area, where 85% of the population resides.

He also forecast the impact on global supply chains, citing the annual costs of supply chains resulting from natural disasters in the United States rising to a record $95 billion in 2020.

Food production systems are also under increasing pressure, he added. "Human activities have already changed 75 percent of the land area, and nearly 75 percent of fresh water resources are now devoted to crop or livestock production."

He said that 25% of the world's total land area has become in a degraded state, "and land degradation has reduced the productivity of 23% of the world's land surface, with global agricultural crop production increasing by 300% since the 1970s."

He added that scientists warned of the loss of 24 billion tons of fertile soil every year, "and if this trend continues, it is possible to degrade 95% of the Earth's land area by 2050."

The poorest are at greater risk

The report continues that the world's poorest and most vulnerable people are at greater risk, including from the deaths and other health consequences of extreme weather.

Over the past decade, he said, mortality rates from floods, droughts and storms have been up to 15 times higher in the most affected countries, including most of Africa and large parts of Central America, than in less affected countries, such as those in western and northern Europe. He stated that between 1970 and 2019, more than 91% of deaths from weather, climate and water hazards worldwide occurred in developing countries.

The report concludes that delays in mitigation and adaptation will threaten sustainable development, as the impacts and responses of climate change are closely linked to social well-being, economic prosperity and environmental protection.

Human-induced climate change may result in reduced agricultural yields, water scarcity, food insecurity, reduced livelihoods and the displacement of local communities.

The report predicted that climate change will increase the number of people living in extreme poverty from 32 million to 132 million by 2030.

Damage to the continents

The report says that the African continent is witnessing a rise in temperatures and a rise in sea level compared to the global average, and it is likely that the continent will witness more frequent and intense heat waves up to 5 times in the year 2050 than it is today, in addition to more intense rain and more droughts. Frequency and intensity, more widespread and more severe coastal flooding.

In Europe, the report expected an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events, and the continued disappearance of glaciers and snow cover. In North and Central America, the agency expected that tropical cyclones and torrential rains will become more severe as the world warms.

He says that human populations are concentrated in narrow climatic ranges, where most people live in places where the average annual temperature is about 11 degrees Celsius to 15 degrees Celsius, while fewer people live where the average temperature is about 20 degrees Celsius to 25 degrees percentage.

He predicted that the climate threat resulting from rising temperatures alone would force 5.3 billion people to live outside the climate zones that humans have been inhabiting over the past 6,000 years. He also expected that rising temperatures would increase asylum requests in the European Union by 28 percent.

He referred to estimates by the World Bank in 2018 that 3 regions, namely Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, will push an additional 143 million climate migrants by 2050.

The report of the Intergovernmental Panel is likely to be the most anticipated cases of migration in response to climate impacts from the islands of the Pacific Ocean. He said that the level of sea level rise at an average of 12 millimeters annually has led to the inundation of 8 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, while two islands are on the verge of disappearance, and this has resulted in a wave of migration to larger countries. Here, he points to the lack of international agreements on how to protect the displaced and the forcibly displaced as a result of climate change.

The most marginalized the most affected

Since the Fifth Assessment Report, more research shows that the most marginalized groups, in economic and social terms, are the first and most affected in the world's south and north alike, according to the commission.

The report added that climate change may cause losses in gross domestic product of 64% in the world's most vulnerable countries, and the effects of climate change may lead to increased marginalization and injustice.

He cited an estimate that between 17 and 72 million people could be forced to move from coastal settlements if sea levels rose somewhere between 0.3 and 1.7 metres.

The international body says there has been an increase in adaptation activities since 2014, including by governments, companies and civil society, most of which have been in response to extreme weather events. Although the option of adaptation is available - according to the report - only small changes in the current systems have emerged from it so far, rather than transformational changes.

She indicated that most climate finance is currently directed at mitigation, and there is still a large financial gap in general and in particular between the amount of money flowing to developing countries and the amount required.

She noted that the estimated costs of adaptation in developing countries are 5 to 10 times the current public funding for adaptation.