A draft report from the UN’s climate science advisory panel offers the most exhaustive look yet at how our warming planet will impact humankind’s health, wealth, and well-being.
AFP had exclusive access to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) draft, set to be published next year.
Here are some of its findings on impacts on people:
Food and water
The report shows how climate change has already decreased major crop production globally and is predicted to impact yields throughout the 21st century, putting greater pressure on countries with a growing number of mouths to feed.
- Between 2015–2019, an estimated 166 million people, primarily in Africa and Central America, required humanitarian assistance due to climate-related food emergencies
- Rising CO2 levels will also degrade the quality of crops, reducing vital minerals and nutrients in key foodstuffs
- Despite greater levels of socioeconomic development, nearly 10 million more children will go undernourished and stunted by 2050 — exposing them to a lifetime of associated health risks
- Catch potential of marine fisheries — on which millions of people rely as their main protein source — is projected to fall 40 to 70 percent for tropical regions of Africa if emissions continue unabated
- Halving red meat consumption and doubling the intake of nuts, fruits and vegetables could reduce food-related emissions as much as 70 percent by mid-century and save 11 million lives by 2030
Highlights of a landmark Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) draft report on the effects of a warming planet on people.
Extreme weather
Rising temperatures will reduce people’s physical ability to work, with much of South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of Central and South America losing up to 250 working days a year by 2100.
- An additional 1.7 billion people will be exposed to severe heat and an additional 420 million people subjected to extreme heatwaves if the planet warms by two degrees Celsius compared to 1.5 degrees — the range laid out in the Paris Agreement
