Today, people tend to have to deal with one climate disaster at a time. The situation will only get worse in the next century, as a group of leading climate change researchers are warning: We will need to tackle multiple disasters at once.
In an article published in the journal Nature Climate Change, Camilo Mora of the University of Hawaii at Manoa and his colleagues reviewed over 3,200 scientific papers and found 467 examples of how climate change has already affected humanity. The paper outlines how climate disasters such as heat waves, wildfires, floods and sea level rise have affected disease, food supplies, the economy, infrastructure, security and other aspects of society.
The research team created an interactive map of the world based on peer-reviewed forecasts that showed the parallel processes of climate change and their consequences for humanity in the coming century. For example, by the end of the century, New Yorkers may face four distinct climate risks, including drought, sea level and temperature rise, and abnormal rainfall. Los Angeles is likely to face three. Particularly vulnerable tropical regions of the world can deal with a range of six threats.
The report predicts that developing nations will face large human casualties, while countries in the first world will suffer enormous economic damage associated with destruction. Despite the fact that climate change is actively studied now, scientists emphasize that most research focuses on only one or two threats, without providing data on the effects of global warming. Mora and her colleagues believe that climate change will pose several threats to humanity at once.
For example, an increase in atmospheric temperature can exacerbate moisture evaporation in dry regions, leading to drought and forest fires. In contrast, wet places can experience heavy rainfall and flooding. As the temperature of the oceans rises, water will evaporate faster, causing powerful hurricanes with strong winds and storm surges due to rising sea levels.
Scientists hope that science will eventually convince people to start working together to solve this global problem. Massive community efforts - such as the Go Carbon Neutral project in Hawaii to offset carbon dioxide emissions by planting trees, which Mora is also involved in - will make a tangible contribution to climate change, they said.
“It's like a puzzle where all the pieces are scattered all over the place. You can only see the whole picture when you put them together. This is a battle we cannot afford to lose. We have no other planet,”says Mora.
Dmitry Mazalevsky
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