[ad_1]
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, (IPCC). Monday report released on the impacts, adaptation and vulnerability humans face with rising temperatures.
It may be difficult to get through all the facts and figures on yet another tome — it’s more than 3,500 pages. This report, which is a lot different than the others, focuses on climate change’s human consequences and how we might adapt.
Or, as UN Secretary-General António Guterres called it: “an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership.”
The report’s message is clear despite all the numbers: Climate change is already causing severe damage to humanity. Although some of the costs can’t be quantified in dollars, they are already mounting.
And it could be much worse, depending on the trajectory we take.
Wildfires
It’s not surprising, given the terrible fires that decimated B.C. According to a new report, wildfires are Canada’s top climate change threat. This is causing financial strain. The wildfire that ravaged Fort McMurray in Alta. in 2016 caused $3 billion in insured damage. The province lost $500 million in fire suppression costs in 2017.
What’s worse is that the report suggests that places that only experience fire every 400 years will experience them as often as once every 50 years.
“We’re used to these events being discrete: there was a flood three years ago or a forest blaze three years ago. The danger is that these events are more frequent and more severe when they do occur,” stated Robert McLeman (environmental studies professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, and coordinating lead writer on the IPCC’s chapter on health and well-being and changing structures of communities).
It increases the risks to people’s mental and physical well-being. It increases the risk for displacement.”
The report also states that fires combined with pests could cause a loss of $459Billion in forestry by 2080. The largest losses will be in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories.
It is also important that you consider the financial costs of people being forced to flee from wildfires that are more frequent and severe.
‘Rapidly closing’ window to avoid worst of climate change, report warns| ‘Rapidly closing’ window to avoid worst of climate change, report warns:
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report, the world is failing to adapt to climate change as natural disasters become more frequent and more severe. Canada’s extreme weather events are a sign that inaction is already having serious consequences. 2:06
How quickly humans act in order to reduce emissions affects the forecast of how bad things could get.
Under a forecasted scenario with stringent emissions cuts, known as RCP2.6, the annual fire suppression cost could rise to $1 billion by the end of the century, which would be a 60 per cent increase relative to 1980–2009. RCP8.5 would show a worse-case scenario in which the cost of fire suppression could rise to $1.9billion, which would represent a 11% increase.
Cities
Wildfires might not be on your mind for more than 80 percent of Canadians live in a city.But city-dwellers face their own challenges.
The report showed that North American cities are already facing problems from a warming planet. These include the severity and frequency “climate-induced hazards” as well as extreme events like severe storms.
These storms are costing Canadians because of infrastructure damage such as floods in Toronto and Calgary. According to the IPCC floods account for 40% of weather-related disasters in Canada since 1970. The most expensive being the 2013 Calgary flood that caused $1.8 billion worth of insurance losses and cost $6 billion uninsured. The report does not include floods and fires beyond 2021.
Luna Khirfan, associate professor at University of Waterloo and participant in the IPCC’s chapter on cities, said that “Cities are very complicated, so their vulnerabilities are complicated.” “You are vulnerable to climate hazards, climate-related risks like flooding and urban heat islands. Coastal cities are vulnerable to storm surge and beach erosion. These risks are magnified when there is a concentration in human lives and livelihoods. We must act now to protect the economy and human lives.
Food production
Farmers have always had to deal with weather challenges, but climate change brings new extremes. The report states that high temperatures along with extreme weather events linked to climate change — such as droughts, floods and heat waves — will “increasingly limit production in agriculture” including aquaculture and fisheries.
In a high-emission scenario, maize production could drop by 4 percent or less if emissions are reduced rapidly. Pests and diseases will increase due to rising temperatures. Parts of British Columbia and Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba Manitoba, Ontario, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories could experience water shortages in the growing season by 2050.
Climate change has already caused kelp to drop by 85-99% in Nova Scotia. Kelp is a habitat for fish along the coast of the province.
Ocean acidity will have an impact on fisheries because some shellfish are unable to make their shells due to the effects of acidity.. The report states that if emissions are high, shellfish production can drop by 51 percent with the largest losses in British Columbia, Quebec, and shellfish, lobster, by 42 to 54%.
It is unclear how these rapid changes will affect the prices at the grocery shop.
The good news is that these losses can be reduced in half if emissions are reduced quickly, according to the IPCC.
Indigenous health
Indigenous people face some of life’s most difficult challenges when it comes food.
Due to the changes to delicate ecosystems, which includes our oceans, the study said that Indigenous groups — in particular those on the West Coast — will have “less access to traditionally harvested seafood,” which will have consequences for their health. Even if they try to substitute seafood with nontraditional food, they will experience nutrient loss.
They will be more dependent on food purchases, which could increase their costs and lead to food insecurity. This could also have an impact on their health in areas already in crisis. Already, North America has high food prices.
“The reality is that most Canadians, regardless of where they live, have felt the impacts of the climate crisis,” said Julia Levin, senior climate and energy program manager at Environmental Defence, a Canadian environmental advocacy organization. “The North has felt the most, with their homes literally falling to the sea and where food security is already deteriorating.”
Humanity will continue feeling the effects of a changing climate, though by just how much depends on how we move forward, the report said. They have reiterated this sentiment in every report.
Levin stated that Canadians have the potential to make a difference.
Levin stated that the future outcome will be determined by the decisions we make today. “But we must remember that we have all the answers, and we know exactly how to get there. Only thing that is missing is political will. We, the people, must hold our government officials accountable at all levels for doing what is necessary.
