Greenhouse gas concentration
Levels hit a new global high in 2020 and continue to rise in 2021, with carbon dioxide concentrations reaching 413.2 parts per million globally, a 149% increase above pre-industrial levels.
“We broke records for major greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide and especially carbon dioxide records were remarkable; we didn’t see any improvement despite the locked down incident. caused by COVID in 2020, so concentrations continue to rise,” explains WMO Director Petteri Taalas.
yang heat
Another record high. The ocean’s upper 2,000m depth will continue to warm in 2021 and is expected to continue warming into the future – an irreversible shift on time scales from hundred years to millennia , and affects deep-sea ecosystems such as coral reefs.
The sea is acidified
Because of the excess carbon dioxide (CO2) that the ocean is absorbing (about 23% of its annual emissions), its water is becoming increasingly acidic.
This has consequences for organisms and ecosystems, and also threatens food security and human tourism.
A decrease in pH also means that the ocean’s ability to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere also decreases.
“90% of the excess heat that we have generated for the planet, it is stored in the ocean,” Professor Taalas announced.
Sea level rise
Sea levels rose by a record 4.5 mm per year between 2013 and 2021, mainly due to the rapid loss of ice mass from the ice sheets.
This has major impacts on hundreds of millions of coastal residents and increases vulnerability to tropical cyclones.
UNEP GRID Arendal / Glenn Edney
Moorish Idol School cruises on the reef, Ha’apai, Tonga.
Cryosphere
The world’s glaciers, which scientists use as a reference, have thinned by 33.5 meters since 1950, with 76% occurring since 1980.
In 2021, glaciers in Canada and the Northwestern United States experienced record ice loss because of heatwaves and fires in June and July.
Greenland also experienced exceptional melting in mid-August and rainfall was recorded at its highest point for the first time.
Heat wave
Record-breaking hot temperatures across western North America and the Mediterranean in 2021. Death Valley, California hit 54.4°C on July 9, equaling the 2020 analog value as the highest. recorded worldwide since at least the 1930s, and Syracuse in Sicily reached 48.8°C.
A heat wave in British Columbia, Canada has left more than 500 people dead and sparked devastating wildfires.
Floods and droughts
Flooding causing economic losses of $17.7 billion in China’s Henan province, as well as 20 billion in Germany. It is also a factor that leads to heavy loss of life.
Drought affects many parts of the world, including the Horn of Africa, South America, Canada, the western United States, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkey.
Drought in the Horn of Africa has increased through 2022. East Africa is facing the very real prospect that the rains will fail for the fourth consecutive season, placing Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia in a drought. unprecedented in the past 40 years. .
“This [climate] effects are not evenly distributed. If you are living in Central America, South America, Central, East or West Africa, South Asia or in a Small Island Developing Country, you are at increased risk of death from climate-related impacts or extreme weather. climate-related extremes are 15 times higher. “, explains the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Climate Action, Selwin Hart.
Food safety
The combined effects of conflict, extreme weather events and economic shocks, exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic, undermining decades of progress toward improving food security globally.
The worsening of humanitarian crises in 2021 has also resulted in some countries being at increased risk of famine. Of the total number of undernourished people in 2020, more than half live in Asia (418 million) and a third in Africa (282 million).
Professor Taalas added: “There is a component to this COVID crisis, and the high risk is because of the war in Ukraine that we will have a hunger problem.”
Move
Hazards associated with water events continue to contribute to internal displacement. The countries with the highest number of migrants recorded as of October 2021 are China (more than 1.4 million), the Philippines (more than 386,000) and Vietnam (more than 664,000).
