UEA studies climate change risks as global warming increases

A collection of eight studies, focusing on Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana and India, has shown that the risks of drought, flooding, declines in crop yields, and loss of biodiversity and natural capital greatly increase for each additional degree of global warming.

Published yesterday (February 28, 2024) in Climatic Change, this final research paper in the Topical Collection of studies published over the last three years presents the overarching picture for the accumulation of climate risk across the selected countries, as global warming increases from 1.5 ºC to 4 ºC above pre-industrial levels.

The studies provide an assessment for the six countries of projected changes in exposure of humans and land to climate-related hazards, such as drought and coastal flooding, and the projected effects of climate change on biodiversity, as well as the economic and societal implications of climate risks.

The research team found very large increases in the exposure of agricultural land to drought with 3ºC warming. Over 50 per cent of the agricultural land in each country is projected to be exposed to severe droughts of longer than one year in a 30-year period.