Key climate report says world moving closer to irreversible damage to environment

Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A United Nations-backed study on the effects of climate change again noted on Monday that the world is on pace to see irreversible environmental troubles in the coming years if more isn't done by humanity to control greenhouse gases.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its sixth assessment report on Monday. The nearly 4,000-page study makes a number of stark warnings and says that the Earth is headed for higher sea levels, disappearing islands and stifling heat that will make some parts of the world uninhabitable.

The IPCC report, based on years of research and thousands of academic studies, says that climate change is already happening at an accelerating pace and is pushing the planet to harsher conditions.

"This report is a dire warning about the consequences of inaction," IPCC Chairman Hoesung Lee said in a statement.

"It shows that climate change is a grave and mounting threat to our well-being and a healthy planet. Our actions today will shape how people adapt and nature responds to increasing climate risks."

The report warns that over the next two decades, global temperatures could rise by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit -- which could result in severe impacts, some of which will be irreversible. It says that deaths from extreme heat, malnutrition and pollution will skyrocket, particularly among low-income countries that contribute little to climate reforms.

Crews fight the Caldor Fire near Meyers, Calif., on August 31, 2021. Monday's IPCC report said that devastating heat, wildfires and severe weather will continue to get worse in the coming years if the human impact on the climate is not brought under control. File Photo by Peter DaSilva/UPI

"The cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal: Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health," the study states.

The report said human-related climate change activity will hasten the crisis and that recognition of the risk is the first step in taking action to reduce the worst effects of climate change.

"Human society impacts ecosystems and can restore and conserve them," the report added. "Meeting the objectives of climate-resilient development thereby supporting human, ecosystem and planetary health, as well as human well-being, requires society and ecosystems to move over to a more resilient state."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the first IPCC report last summer a "code red for humanity." Monday, he appealed for more effort to avoid environmental catastrophe.

"Nearly half of humanity is living in the danger zone -- now," he said in a statement. "Many ecosystems are at the point of no return -- now. Unchecked carbon pollution is forcing the world's most vulnerable on a frog march to destruction -- now.

"We need new eligibility systems to deal with this new reality. Delay means death."