United Nations, Nov 6 (News.un.org).- The Interim State of the Global Climate 2022 study outlines signs of an increasingly dramatic climate emergency, including a doubling of the rate of sea level rise since 1993. , to a new record this year; and indications of unprecedented glacier melting in the European Alps.

The full 2022 report will be published in the spring of 2023, but the interim study presented ahead of COP27, the United Nations climate conference, raises awareness of the large scale of the problem that world leaders must address, if they are to have any hope. in controlling the climate crisis.

“The greater the warming, the worse the impact,” said the chief WMO , Petter Taalas, who presented the report at an event in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, the venue for this year’s conference. “We have very high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere right now so lowest 1.5 degree Paris Agreement barely within reach . It’s too late for many glaciers and melting will continue for hundreds or even thousands of years with important implications for water security”.

Critical conditions all over the world

The report is a dizzying catalog of alarming weather events, occurring against the backdrop of record levels of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, the three main greenhouse gases contributing to global warming, currently estimated at around 1.15 degrees Celsius. above pre-industrial levels.

Throughout the Alps, an average thickness loss of between three and more than four meters was recorded, while in Switzerland, all snow melted during the summer, the first time this has occurred in history; since the turn of the century, the country’s glacial ice volume has shrunk by more than a third.

The increasing worldwide melting of ice has caused sea levels to rise over the past 30 years, at a rapidly increasing rate. Ocean warming rates have been very high over the last two decades; Ocean heat waves are becoming more frequent and the rate of warming is expected to continue in the future.

This study details the effects of drought and excessive rainfall. Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia face crop failures and food insecurity due to another below-average rainy season, while more than a third of Pakistan was flooded in July and August from record rains, displacing nearly eight million people.

The southern African region was hit by a series of typhoons over the first two months of the year, hitting Madagascar the worst with torrential rains and devastating flooding, and in September, Hurricane Ian caused severe damage and loss of life in Cuba and southwest Florida.

Much of Europe is scorching in repeated episodes of extreme heat: Britain saw a new national record on July 19, when temperatures exceeded 40 °C for the first time. This is accompanied by persistent and destructive droughts and forest fires.

In a statement issued on Sunday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the WMO report as a “chronic climate chaos,” detailing the catastrophic speed of climate change, destroying lives and livelihoods around the world, on all continents.

Facing the unavoidable climate crisis and extreme weather around the world, Guterres will launch an action plan at COP27 to achieve Early Warning for All within the next five years.

The UN Secretary General explained that an early warning system is needed to protect people and communities everywhere. “We must respond to the planet’s danger signals with action, ambitious and credible climate action,” he said. “COP27 must be the place, and now must be the time”