September 26, 2019

Andrew Campbell 

The UN released the study, Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere, which was conducted by more than 100 scientists in 36 different countries. It warned that the warming of seas and its effect will result in regular flooding in such cities in low-lying coastal areas as London, New York, Shanghai, and Istanbul; almost 680 million people will be affected. 

Besides, the sea ice of the world is melting at a surprising rate. The new UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that some factors leading to this might already be irreversible. In the latest three reports carried out by UN on the impact of climate change, it perhaps is the most depressing and alarming. The coordinative lead author of the report, Dr. Jean-Pierre Gattuso, said that our ‘Blue Planet’ is right now in serious danger and it's our fault.

Scientists can be very sure that the global ocean has warmed continuously since 1970. Over the past decades, the waters have soaked up over 90 percent of the heat generated by mankind. The report also says that the average sea levels might rise by up to 1.1 meter before 2100, which is a 10cm rise on the previous IPCC prediction owing to the larger ice loss taking place now in Antarctica. This will in turn result in dangerous weather events.

There is still hope, though. Hoesung Lee, chair of the IPCC, suggested to reduce emissions sharply. Governments all over the world should take immediate action to avoid the worst situation of climate change. No action taken is the worst-case scenario.

Photo:Webshot.