The Arctic is warming three times faster than the global average, says a new report by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP). The report is based on 40 years of observations, between 1979 and 2019. The report says that there has been an increase in extremely high temperatures and a decline in extreme cold events due to climate change.
Earth’s climate worsened in the last year, said the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
WMO’s Statement on the State of the Global Climate (2019) revealed 2019 was the second-hottest year on record. The mercury was 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels in 2019. 2016 remains the hottest year recorded but the rise in temperature then was due to El-Nino 2010-2019 was the hottest decade on record. Since 1980 each decade has been hotter than the previous.
As per the World Bank, changes in average temperature and precipitation would impact 600 million lives in India.
There is scientific evidence that global warming is leading to more moisture loading in the atmosphere, which, in turn, is causing more extreme precipitation events. Raghu Murtugudde, a professor at Maryland University, US, recently said that there is a clear link between extreme rainfall events and global warming.
On World Environment Day, let’s find out what the Conference of the Parties (COP) is and its role in saving our environment.
This is the first animal that has become extinct because of human-induced climate change. The little brown rodent is called the Bramble Cay Melomys (Melomys rubicola) and is a former inhabitant of Australia.
Its habitat was the tiny 4 hectare Bramble Cay, located on the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef. It was last sighted in 2009. The Australian government confirmed its extinction on 18 February 2019.
