Risks of global warming have been underestimated
Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - 07:14
in Earth & Climate
'Today, we have to assume that the risks of negative impacts of climate change on humans and nature are larger than just a few years ago,' says Hans-Martin Fuessel from the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research (PIK). Risks would increase drastically with only small increases in global mean temperature exceeding the 1990 level. Many ecosystems like tropical coral reefs prove to be much more susceptible to global warming and the rising concentration of carbon dioxide than assumed in the Third Assessment Report (TAR) by the IPCC in 2001. Extreme weather events as droughts, heat waves or tropical cyclones occur more frequently and cause larger damages than assessed at the beginning of this decade...