The impacts of climate change and global warming

Disturbing new developments

Melting Icecaps
There has been dramatic loss of ice in both the Arctic and in Antarctica. The Arctic icecap has entered what's been called a 'death spiral' and for the first time in human history, you can take a ship around the North Pole.

Within five years there may be no summer sea ice left at all at the North Pole during summer. Closer to home, an Antarctic ice shelf almost half the size of the South Island is in the process of collapsing. There are another ten Antarctic ice shelves also at risk of collapse

Our oceans are turning more acidic

Carbon dioxide emissions are acidifying the oceans, with potentially disastrous consequences for marine life. The oceans currently absorb one third of all carbon emissions, but they're reaching saturation point

Coral reefs are dying
Increasing world ocean temperatures are bleaching and killing coral reefs

Sea level rise

New studies are predicting sea level rises of over a metre or more by the end of this century, more than double the predictions made in 2007. A number of low-lying island nations around the world are already under serious threat

Fires
The increasing fires in Australia and elsewhere in the world are being intensified by warming temperatures

Agriculture under pressure
Farmers are suffering from increasing droughts in Australia, China, South America, East Africa, America's southwest and New Zealand