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The impact of climate change
Due to climate change, extreme weather events such as (winter) storms, extreme precipitation or heat waves will occur more frequently and become more intense than they currently are – this is what scientists belonging to the UN climate research panel (IPCC) are predicting. Over the next 100 years, the Earth's temperature is expected to rise by up to 5.8°C, and latest results suggest an even higher rise in temperatures.
British economist Nicholas Stern points out that the impact of climate change will not be spread evenly and that, in particular, the poorest nations and people will suffer earlier and to a greater extent. Poor populations generally have a lower capacity to adapt and are therefore especially vulnerable, and even more so if they are concentrated in high risk areas. In many cases the poor people of the world are more dependent on climate-sensitive resources such as local water and food supplies.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the most important signs of climate change are the increase in the average global temperature, a slower but constant increase in the sea level and changes in sea circulation. Climate change has a different effect on each country, depending on the location and the state of economic development. The changes that are expected in connection with climate warming include
- a change in the amount of precipitation and the resulting consequences regarding the supply of drinking water, agriculture, energy production and eco-systems,
- the expansion of deserts,
- the melting of glaciers and the defrosting, breaking or washing away of permafrost,
- as well as new areas in which temperature-dependent disease carriers and germs can spread.
The worldwide increase in extreme climatic events and after-effects, such as torrential rainfall, droughts, heat waves, storms, floods or landslides can already be demonstrated today.
Source: BAFU, IPCC, Stern 2006, UNEP 2001, UVEK 2007
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