The “The Future of Earth, 2020” Report was recently released.
About the report
- The report is released by the South Asia Future Earth Regional Office, Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science.
- The report was prepared with the aim of reducing carbon footprint and halting global warming below 2 degree Celsius by 2050.
Highlights of the report
- Five global risks that have the potential to impact and amplify one another in ways that may cascade to create global systemic crisis have been listed by report.
- It listed the following as five global risks:
- failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation
- extreme weather events
- major biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse
- food crises; and
- water crises
- Offering examples of how the interrelation of risk factors play a role, scientists say extreme heatwaves can accelerate global warming by releasing large amounts of stored carbon from affected ecosystems, and at the same time intensify water crises and/ or food scarcity.
- The loss of biodiversity also weakens the capacity of natural and agricultural systems to cope with climate extremes, increasing our vulnerability to food crises, they point out.
