Climate crisis now in ‘state of planetary emergency’: scientists

Scientists have warned that humankind could enter a state of potentially catastrophic climate change on a new 'hothouse' Earth if the climate crisis continues on its current path.

They called for urgent action to avoid ‘an existential threat to civilisation’ ahead of the COP25 climate change summit in Madrid, reports the Climate News Network.

The group of seven researchers, who published a commentary in the journal Nature, said there is growing evidence to suggest that irreversible changes to the Earth's environmental systems are already taking place, and that we are now in a ‘state of planetary emergency’.

A global tipping point is a threshold when the planet's systems go beyond the point of no return-- such as the loss of the Amazon rainforest, accelerated melting of ice sheets, and thawing of permafrost -- the scientists said in the commentary.

Such a collapse could lead to ‘hothouse’ conditions that would make some areas on Earth uninhabitable.

The scientists argue that the intervention time left to prevent tipping 'could already have shrunk towards zero, whereas the reaction time to achieve net zero emissions is 30 years at best'.

File Photo: A boat and a bicycle are seen on the dried lake Poopo affected by climate change, in the Oruro Department, Bolivia, Dec 16, 2017. REUTERS

The team led by Timothy Lenton, professor of climate change and Earth system science at the University of Exeter, in southwest England, identified nine areas where they say tipping points are already underway.

These include widespread destruction of the Amazon, reduction of Arctic sea ice, large-scale coral reef die-offs, melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, thawing of permafrost, destabilising of boreal forests -- which contain vast numbers of trees that grow in freezing northern climes -- and a slowdown of ocean circulation.

The scientist claimed that these events are interconnected and change in one will impact another, causing a worsening ‘cascade’ of crises.

Regional warming is leading to an increased thawing of Arctic permafrost, soil that stays frozen throughout the year, which is releasing carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. The warming has triggered large-scale insect disturbances and fires in North American boreal forests ‘potentially turning some regions from a carbon sink to a carbon source’, according to the study.

Researchers said the early results from the preliminary models suggest the climate is much more sensitive than first thought and that a global tipping point is possible.

File Photo: An Urus Muratos offering to Kota Mama (Mother Water) is seen on the dried lake Poopo affected by climate change, in the Oruro Department, Bolivia, Sep 1, 2017. REUTERS

"Research last year analysed 30 types of regime shift spanning physical climate and ecological systems, from the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet to a switch from rainforest to Savanna," the study added. "This indicated that exceeding tipping points in one system can increase the risk of crossing them in others."

The idea of a climate tipping point is not new, according to the Climate News Network. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, introduced the concept 20 years ago.

Back then, the UN suggested such ‘large-scale discontinuities’ would only come about when global warming exceeded 5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

But climate scientists said data from the two most recent IPCC reports in 2018 and September 2019, suggest tipping points can happen between 1 C and 2 C of warming.

Global average temperatures are around 1 C higher now than in the pre-industrial age and continue to rise.