Special Report: Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters
From the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:
Qin Dahe, Co-chair of IPCC Working Group I, which together with Working Group II was responsible for the development and preparation of the report, said: “There is high confidence that both maximum and minimum daily temperatures have increased on a global scale due to the increase of greenhouse gases.”
“Changes in other extremes, such as more intense and longer droughts are observed in some regions, but the assessment assigns medium confidence due to a lack of direct observations and a lack of agreement in the available scientific studies. Confidence in any long-term trend in tropical cyclone intensity, frequency or duration is assessed to be low,” he added.
Regarding the future, the assessment concludes that it is virtually certain that on a global scale hot days become even hotter and occur more often. "For the high emissions scenario, it is likely that the frequency of hot days will increase by a factor of 10 in most regions of the world", said Thomas Stocker the other Co-chair of Working Group I. “Likewise, heavy precipitation will occur more often, and the wind speed of tropical cyclones will increase while their number will likely remain constant or decrease”.
“Nevertheless, there are many options for decreasing risk. Some of these have been implemented, but many have not. The best options can provide benefits across a wide range of possible levels of climate change.” said Vicente Barros, Co-chair of Working Group II.
Chris Field, the other Co-chair of Working Group II, added: “We hope this report can be a scientific foundation for sound decisions on infrastructure, urban development, public health, and insurance, as well as for planning—from community organizations to international disaster risk management.”
The full report, and a summary for policy makers, is found here: http://ipcc-wg2.gov/SREX/
Article about this report, with interesting commentary and video:
The New York Times, Andrew Revkin, November 18, 2011
Climate Panel Charts Extreme Weather in a Warming World
-
Posted by Anne Wallach Thomas on Tuesday, November 29, 201100:23AM
Opinions expressed on any workspace blog in ConserveOnline and in any corresponding comments are the personal opinions of the original authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Nature Conservancy.
Terms of UseLast updated: June 16, 2009
Please read these legal terms carefully before using this blog.
We’re delighted that you’re considering posting a comment on a workspace blog in ConserveOnline. Here are some things you should know and guidelines we need you to follow as you craft your comment:
- We welcome and encourage vigorous debate in the comment section of its blog. We will not discriminate against comments that express views different from the official stated position of the organization or of its individual bloggers simply on the basis of that difference.
- However, all comments submitted to this blog are moderated, which means that they will be reviewed by Conservancy staff and/or workspace owners prior to their publication on the blog. We have final edit and approval of any comment submitted to the blog for publication.
- We reserve the right to reject a comment for publication if we feel the comment violates our guidelines or is otherwise inappropriate for the blog. We also reserve the right to edit comments for style, length or other considerations.
- Comments containing obvious factual inaccuracies, unattributed facts and quotes, insulting comments, or libelous/unlawful statements will not be published. While vigorous debate is welcome, all remarks should generally be directed at issues, positions, events, and statements, rather than at individuals.
- We will not publish comments that it deems to be abusive, defamatory, embarrassing, harassing, hateful, obscene, profane, or threatening to another person or entity, including the Conservancy.
- In addition, we reserve the right to not publish blog comments that it deems for any other reason to be unsuitable, unlawful, or objectionable, such as but not limited to the content of the posting/material (for example, the usage of inappropriate language), the subject matter, the timeliness or relevance of the material/posting, or reasons related to intellectual property, among others. We may employ technical tools to identify postings that may contain objectionable material.
- Comments that link to web pages that violate any of the above guidelines will not be published.
- By submitting a comment to the this blog, you are granting us a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, transmit, perform, and display the comment (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate into other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in such content or information. You also acknowledge that such submissions are non-confidential for all purposes.
All questions or comments should be addressed to conserveonline@tnc.org
