Climate change: Portugal threatened by mega-fires, windstorms and floods

The risk of forest fires, in particular mega-fires, will continue to increase in Portugal and southern Europe, as well as the risk of gales. This trend, which has gained a strong proportion from the years 70, due to the accumulation of fuel, climate change and meteorological events, will extend to Portugal, France, Greece, Spain, Italy and Turkey.

On the other hand, the coastal flooding will affect up to 5.5 million people in the South and Northern Europe, with direct costs that can reach the € 17 billion. Summer tourism in the Mediterranean-and winter tourism in the mountains â€" will decrease with increasing temperature and, in southern Europe, the conditions of saturation and drainage associated with the rainy season will be restricted to certain periods in winter and Spring.

These are the four main conclusions of the new report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on climate change), which met this morning in Yokohama, Japan, to discuss the impacts of climate change around the world.

The report involved the work of thousands of scientists and experts, and is considered a strategic document to substantiate the climate policies on a global scale and of the individual countries.

Globally, the four main conclusions points out the real risks, varied and far-reaching climate change, and uncertainty about the severity of the impacts is not a reason to delay action. On the other hand, the poorest and most marginalized communities will be the hardest hit and there is a unique solution for the adaptation to climate that serve everyone â€" for some impacts will not be viable adaptation.

Key messages of the report

In a report under the sign of four, were these the key messages presented by the Group of scientists. Thus, they came to the conclusion that the Earth and ocean warming is unequivocal, being currently motivated by climate change and, to a large extent caused by human activity.

The scientists ' understanding about current and emerging risks associated with climate change are increasing, and, on the other hand, the impacts of rising temperatures are deep about economic growth, food security, economic, social and cultural inequalities.

According to the IPCC, developing countries and rural communities tend to be the hardest hit due to the impacts on food production, livelihoods and local economies. So many people from all over the world are highly vulnerable to global warming, even if less than two degrees compared to pre-industrial levels.

Finally, the coming decades â€" up to 2040 â€" correspond to the era of "climate responsibility", and the uncertainty is no reason to delay the climate action. The report of the second working group highlights a number of future directions that may take the development and impacts of climate change; the measures we take now will determine how can we minimize the more negative scenarios. It is also clear that, with regard to climate change, it's cheaper to act now than to postpone.

Europe is still threatened

Europe is one of the continents most affected by climate change. Northern Europe and the central area of the United Kingdom will continue to be heavily affected by the floods, affecting more than double the current annual damage. Considering the impacts of flooding on economic growth, make good any damage caused by the floods in Europe could increase 17 times against a backdrop of temperature rise of 5.5° c.

Europe is a global supplier of food, so global food security will be affected by the drop in productivity related to climate change, including diseases and fungi.

The value of forests in Europe may fall up to several hundred billions of euros, and the incidence of wood beetles, fungi and diseases is expected to increase.

On the other hand, the warmer temperatures in the sea and ocean acidification will have impact on fisheries and sea industry.

Climate change have affected and continue to affect all aspects of biodiversity in Europe, including the time of Spring migration of birds and their breeding season. It is expected that adequate habitats for breeding birds of Europe move almost 550 km by the end of the century.

Finally, up to 9% of mammals are at risk of extinction and even 78% can be seriously threatened. Currently, a new species from distant places reaches the Mediterranean Sea every 4 or 5 weeks. This fee will increase over time.

The IPCC warns that there is a need for an immediate reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to avoid passing the limit of global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, with which the European Union and all the other Nations pledged in Copenhagen. The European climate ambition hasn't changed in the last five years and its proposal for 40% emissions reductions by 2030 is not a guarantee that we will be under a warming of 2 degrees Celsius.

Foto: Kyle Taylor, Dream It. Do It/Creative Commons

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