The climate threat|Global challenges

Klimathotet|Globala utmaningarna

Coal mine in Germany. Michael Probst / AP  

 

The climate threat|Global challenges

The warning: More rain here, less rain in the Amazon  

 

Less rain in the Amazon and Australia, more precipitation in northern Europe. These are some of the consequences that follow from the next five years' temperature increases, according to the UN agency WMO's report.  

 

The forecast for the Amazon is particularly worrying because the area is already plagued by deforestation and temperature increases, writes The Guardian. Rainforests are one of the main carbon sinks on the planet.  

 

According to the WMO, there is a 98 percent probability that the next five years will be the warmest on record. 

 

"It will have far-reaching consequences for health, food safety, water management and the environment," writes WMO director Petteri Taalas. 

 

A climate protester with the message "1.5 to survive". Peter Dejong / AP  

 

The global temperature may exceed the 1.5 degree target temporarily in the next few years  

 

The temperature in the world may temporarily rise above the global average temperature of 1.5 degrees sometime between 2023 and 2027, according to a new climate report from the WMO, the World Meteorological Organization. There is a 66 percent probability that the temperature will rise above the Paris Agreement target. 

 

The reason for the fears about rising temperatures is that the weather phenomenon El Niño, which is expected to be extra intense this year, risks giving an extra push to the human-caused warming.  

 

Scientists say at the same time that it does not have to mean a permanent failure if the temperature temporarily rises to more than 1.5 degrees.  

 

- One year really means nothing, says the report's lead author Leon Hermanson.