NEW YORK (September 27, 2013) – Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the first installment of its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). The report, which has been signed off by almost 200 nations after negotiations this week, concludes with 95% certainty or more that humans have caused the majority of climate change since the 1950s. It predicts global surface temperature to continue to rise, along with increased sea level rise, melting of glaciers and ice sheets, acidification of oceans, increase in the intensity of tropical storms and changes in precipitation patterns.
In other words; the science on climate change is clearer than ever, and so is the urgency for human action.
As a global community, we all have a role in developing and implementing solutions toward significant transformation in our development patterns. It requires not only a shift in awareness and accountability for our own individual choices, but in a social, political and economic shift towards enabling conditions for these sustainable choices to be made– and in turn, a more just, equal and healthy planet.
“The IPCC report says it clearly: climate change is happening and humans are causing it. The international negotiations on climate change (COP19) are coming up soon in Warsaw, Poland, and countries must commit to greater CO2 emissions reductions before 2020, produce real funds for adaption in developing countries, innovate, design and implement safe and equitable mitigation solutions that contribute to all aspects of sustainable development, and make progress on addressing loss and damage. We also remind political leaders that policies for tackling climate change must respect the human rights of people – or they will neither be just nor effective“, says Bridget Burns of WEDO.
Read the press release from the IPCC.
Read the press release from the UNFCCC.
Read the full Summary for Policymakers.
Read the unified call for action by 850 NGOs in the International Climate Action Network.
The recent report also shows climate change will hit poor countries hardest. Read the Guardian’s comment here.
