Foreign Secretary David Miliband yesterday launched a map highlighting the temperature rises likely to be experienced across the planet in as little as 50 years’ time. It enables the world to see the catastrophic effects that global warming will have if it remains unchecked.
Presenting the map at the Science Museum in London, David and Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, presented the more recently predicted four-degree average temperature rise and the variation in effects that it would have across the globe. Work undertaken by British scientists to produce the climate change map has taken into account both sea and land temperatures, and explores the effects on wildlife, the Amazon rainforest and the poorest nations around the globe as populations are set to rise.
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Of great interest is the varied warming effect they predict around the world. For example the most northern region of the Arctic Ocean may experience fifteen or sixteen degrees’ warming which would trigger the complete disappearance of all Arctic ice, thus leading to the extinction of wildlife including polar bears and walruses. And remember this is by 2060, or the lifetime of many current generations. Conversely, the United Kingdom may only see a rise of three degrees, yet the consequences of this would be drought and extreme heatwaves that the nation is as yet ill-equipped to deal with.
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The often overlooked impact is that of food production. A four degree rise as set out on the UK Government’s map is very likely to lead to maize and wheat yields falling by 40 per cent across the world. More specifically, rice yields in China, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia could fall by 30 per cent, leaving many millions of people desperately short of a primary food source.
Mr Miliband stated the reason for publishing the map “is that for many people, not only in our own country but around the world, the penny hasn’t yet dropped that this climate change challenge is real, it's happening now.” Now is our opportunity to agree a global accord, but also to take action on climate change, emissions, low carbon initiatives and sustainability.
View the interactive 4 degrees global warming map.
Further information on the science behind this can be found on the Met Office climate pages.