Today, the United Nations released Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, which is already being touted as the most comprehensive global report on climate change. It was produced by 309 authors and editors from 70 countries with 436 contributors and nearly 1,800 experts and government reviewers.
For the first time, a United Nations panel has concluded that the list of widely known climate change impacts—including extreme weather and warming — could soon include increased strains on water and food supplies, leading to civil resource wars, migration and international conflict. Climate change is already being seen on every continent and ocean, and we are “ill-prepared,” the report states.
“We live in an era of man-made climate change,” said Vicente Barros, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Working Group II, which compiled the report. “In many cases, we are not prepared for the climate-related risks that we already face. Investments in better preparation can pay dividends both for the present and for the future.”
To read the full report, go to www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg2.