Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience

In the report Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience, launched in June 2013, scientists look at the likely impacts on three vulnerable regions if the world continues on its current trajectory and warms by 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times by mid-century and continues to become 4°C warmer by 2100.

The report looks across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and South East Asia, revealing how rising global temperatures are increasingly threatening the health and livelihoods of their most vulnerable populations. It builds on the previous report in the series, Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C World Must Be Avoided, that concluded the world likely will warm by 4°C  by the end of the century.

The latest report in the series describes the risks to agriculture and food security in sub-Saharan Africa; rise in sea-level, bleaching of coral reefs, and devastation of coastal areas in South East Asia; and fluctuating rain patterns and food production impacts in South Asia. The report, prepared by the Potsdam Institute of Climate Research and Climate Analytics, synthesizes the current peer-reviewed literature and supplements it with computer modeling, finding that future impacts across the regions are potentially devastating.

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