UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change expected to release report

The world's top climate scientists are meeting in South Korea this week to discuss whether global temperatures can be kept from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius this century.

"There's a lot at stake" - Professor Tim Flannery.

The world has already passed one degree of warming since the 1850s mostly because of soaring carbon emissions.

The scientists are meeting ahead the release of a critical report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which is expected to urge deeper cuts to fossil fuel pollution to ensure the global warming targets are met.

It comes as the latest official data show carbon emissions in Australia have risen to their highest level in almost a decade.

Listen to the RN Breakfast interview by Fran Kelly - “UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change expected to release report.”

Water shortages to be key environmental challenge of the century, Nasa warns

Water shortages are likely to be the key environmental challenge of this century, scientists from Nasa have warned, as new data has revealed a drying-out of swaths of the globe between the tropics and the high latitudes, with 19 hotspots where water depletion has been dramatic.

The Theewaterskloof Dam, a key source of water supply to Cape
 Town, South Africa ahead of the current water crisis.

Areas in northern and eastern India, the Middle East, California and Australia are among the hotspots where overuse of water resources has caused a serious decline in the availability of freshwater that is already causing problems. Without strong action by governments to preserve water the situation in these areas is likely to worsen.

Read Fiona Harvey’s story from The Guardian - “Water shortages to be key environmental challenge of the century, Nasa warns.”

'Epic heat' later this century in Persian Gulf

P

eople living along the Persian Gulf are going to need more than superpower sunscreen and air conditioning to face the epic heat climate scientists say will hit the area in the summers of 2070 to 2100.

With predicted temperatures of 60°C (140°F) the weather will be so hot that humans literally won’t be able to tolerate it. Coastal urban areas including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha are most at risk.

The prediction is based the assumption that our increasing carbon dioxide emissions remain unabated this century, setting up levels that will reach 940 parts per million (ppm) at the end of the century. In the 1700s, the Earth was at 280 ppm.

Read the Care2 story by Alex Smith - “Study Shows Gulf Climate Will Be Too Hot for Humans Later This Century.”