Working Group II of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released Summary for Policymakers of Fifth Assessment Report

The Working Group II of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) and the final draft of the Fifth Assessment Report (WGII AR5) "Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability" on 31 March 2014. The Report details a wide range of observed climate change impacts to date including human health, water resources, food security, and damage to infrastructure, etc. It also spells out the key risks calling for concern if the emission of greenhouse gases continues to increase unabated. To name a few,

• the risk of mortality and morbidity during periods of extreme heat;
• the risk of breakdown of infrastructure networks and critical services such as electricity supply due to extreme weather events;
• the risk of ill-health and disrupted livelihoods in low-lying coastal zones due to storm surges, coastal flooding and sea level rise;
• the risk of food insecurity due to warming, drought and extreme weather events.

WGII AR5 also discusses the opportunities to respond to such risks. For further information, please visit http://www.ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/