| For
Immediate Release
Fix the land or it will be an
emitter, new IPCC Report
warns Bonn,
11/08/2021 - The Earth is warming fast,
and even faster on the land. This trend is
“virtually certain” to continue and no region of
the world will be spared, according to the
Working Group 1 assessment report released
Monday by the authoritative Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Globally,
the last decade was on average already one
degree Celsius warmer than it was between 1850
and 1900. But it was way warmer over the land,
and close to the 2 degrees in some
regions.
The Report provides evidence of
the warming and its effects on the land from the
one degree of warming that occurred in the last
decade.
More moisture is evaporating, and
faster. The atmosphere is holding more water.
Rainfall is heavier and more frequent. Droughts
are intensifying. Extremely hot days are more
intense, frequent, and last longer, whereas
extremely cold days are less frequent and less
severe. Climate zones are shifting towards the
poles.
The Report, which is part of the
IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report of climate
change, provides the physical science basis of
climate change.
In addition to providing
the changes observed between 2011 and 2020 of 1
degree Celsius, it also uses simulation to
project what the future would look like if
temperatures rose by 1.0, 1.5, 2 and 4 degrees
Celsius relative to the 1850-1900
period.
“Scientists are clear that we
face dire consequences, if we fail to act now.
Temperatures will rise above 2 degrees Celsius
by 2050 and to between 3 and 4 degrees by 2100.
They are also clear under what conditions, we
can still reduce emissions drastically to keep
the average global temperature below 2 degrees
by 2050 and reduce it to below 1.5 before the
turn of the century,” says Ibrahim Thiaw,
Executive Secretary of the United Nations
Convention to Combat
Desertification.
“It’s critical to cut
the sources of emissions, such as fossil fuels
right now. But it is vital to ensure that the
Earth’s natural carbon sinks can draw down the
carbon in the atmosphere now and into the
future. Oceans and land are not sufficient to
draw down all the emissions. But they are
necessary and critically important for meeting
the global goals envisioned. The stakes couldn’t
be higher,” Thiaw says.
The IPCC Report
states that oceans and land absorb half of our
carbon emissions each year. But their
effectiveness at slowing the accumulation of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is declining
with ever-increasing emissions. Unless our
course is changed now, over time these natural
carbon sinks will turn from net sinks into net
sources of carbon emissions.
“Land can be
part of the solution. Better land planning, use
and management going forward and the restoration
of the one billion hectares of land governments
have committed to restore by 2030 would make a
big difference in our resilience to climate
change. We know the benefits of restoration at
large scale,” says Thiaw.
Under the Paris
Agreement of 2015, governments agreed to take
actions to ensure by year 2100 the Earth’s
warming stays within 2 degrees Celsius, while
pursuing efforts to limit the temperature
increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
These actions are known as Nationally Determined
Contributions (NDCs) under the Agreement signed
into law under the United Nation Framework
Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC).
UNFCCC reported in a press
release Monday that “an initial synthesis of
submitted new or updated NDCs early in 2021
showed that collective efforts fall far short of
what is required by science to limit global
temperature increases by the end of the century
to 2C, let alone the desired objective of less
than 1.5C.
Over one
billion hectares of degraded land globally is
earmarked for restoration by 2030. Of this,
more than 250 million hectares are commitments
under the NDCs. An additional 450 million
hectares committed under the Convention to
Combat Desertification and about 90 million
hectares under the Convention on Biological
Diversity can contribute to climate change
mitigation and adaptation.
The IPCC
Special Report on Climate Change and Land
published two years ago explains the various
roles the land plays in driving climate change
and its potential to both reverse the process
and build the resilience of both people and
ecosystems.
The Report’s new
complementary Interactive
Atlas can be used to assess how the future
could change at different times for different
regions. The tool is accessible to the public
and begins with a tour guide on how to use and
navigate.
The IPCC’s Report from Working
Group II, focusing on the impacts and how to
adapt to the change, will be issued in February
2022. Working Group III Report, on how to halt
and eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, will be
released in March 2022. The synthesis report of
the Sixth Assessment Report will be issued in
September 2022. These reports will advance
further our understanding of the role land can
play in addressing climate
change.
Download the Headline
Statements of the Report
Download the Summary
for Policy Makers by WG1 on the Physical
Science Basis
UNCCD Executive Secretary in
response to the IPCC
Special Report on Climate Change and
Land
For more information contact:
Wagaki Wischnewski
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