Climate Change: Consequences and Mitigation

Abstract

Climate change refers to the long-term changes in the climate that occur over decades, centuries or longer. It is caused by rapidly increasing greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere due primarily to burning fossil fuels (e.g., coal, oil, and natural gas). Weather, in contrast to climate, is the daily experience of atmospheric conditions such as temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind, etc. More frequent and intense drought, storms, heat waves, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and warming oceans can directly harm animals, destroy the places they live, and wreak havoc on people’s livelihoods and communities. As climate change worsens, dangerous weather events are becoming more frequent or severe. Sea levels are rising and oceans are becoming warmer. Longer, more intense droughts threaten crops, wildlife and freshwater supplies. From polar bears in the Arctic to marine turtles off the coast of Africa, our planet’s diversity of life is at risk from the changing climate. Climate change poses a fundamental threat to the places, species and people’s livelihoods. WWF works to protect. To adequately address this crisis, we must urgently reduce carbon pollution and prepare for the consequences of global warming, which we are already experiencing. Climate change has been recognized as the foremost environmental problem of the twenty-first century and has been a subject of considerable debate and controversy. It is predicted to lead to adverse, irreversible impacts on the earth and the ecosystem as a whole.