Global heating will reach at least 1.8C under even the most optimistic future, well beyond the Paris agreement goal of 1.5C, according to a UN report that warns every fraction of temperature rise intensifies destructive extreme weather, ecosystem loss, and island and coastal city submersion.
No good outcomes above 1.5C
The report by the Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme said “there are no good outcomes above 1.5C”. Human health, water supplies, nature, cities, infrastructure and economies could all be severely damaged. Some losses would be irreversible and many communities may have to relocate.
But scientists say the world could get back to 1.5C through deep, rapid emissions cuts and removing carbon from the atmosphere through steps such as establishing vast new forests alongside, not as an alternative to, deep cuts in fossil fuel pollution.
Nepal flood victims and shark drones
At the Nepal Police hospital in Kathmandu, grieving families are lining up to provide DNA samples in the hope of identifying victims of the devastating floods. Guardian Australia’s Cait Kelly, on the ground in Nepal, has documented the harrowing accounts of those searching for missing loved ones, including survivors who lost their parents.
Before a shark attacked Sydney teacher and mother Leah Stewart in June, drone surveillance was not permitted at Coogee beach because it lies directly under the flight path from Sydney airport’s east-west runway. But under a $34m initiative by the state government that out in July, 38 of Sydney’s ocean beaches, including Coogee, now receive dawn-to-dusk drone monitoring year round.
