3.1.3

Effects of Climate Change on People

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Effects of Climate Change on People

Current policies are expected to lead to 2.8-3.2°C of warming by 2100.

Illustrative background for More deaths due to heatIllustrative background for More deaths due to heat ?? "content

More deaths due to heat

  • More people are likely to die from heat exhaustion (but some people could be saved from freezing too).
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Problems with water availability

  • Between 2018 and 2019, Cape Town suffered from a drought.
  • Hotter temperatures may mean droughts are more common and also happen in new areas. Changing precipitation patterns may lead to more droughts.
  • There could be wars between countries trying to secure access to water sources and fertile farmland.
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Lower crop yields

  • Climate change may increase temperatures making it harder to grow crops in many countries. Producing less crops per square metre would be the 'crop yield' decreasing.
  • People may die of starvation or malnutrition because of this.
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More extreme weather events

  • More extreme weather events not only directly threaten human lives, but also has financial consequences. Hurricane Katrina cost the USA roughly $125bn.
  • Cyclones or tropical storms would become more serious and would be more common.
  • The cost of predicting extreme weather events and preventing them from doing damage will likely be large.
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Loss of coastal areas

  • Rising sea levels could lead to low-lying coastal areas becoming uninhabitable.
  • In a world with temperatures 4 °C higher, London, New York, Rio de Janeiro, and Shanghai would be underwater.
  • This will force migration, overcrowded living conditions, poverty and potentially, wars.

Jump to other topics

1Physical Geography

1.1River Environments

1.2Coastal Environments

1.3Hazardous Environments - Tropical Cyclones

1.4Hazardous Environments - Earthquakes & Volcanoes

2Human Geography

3Global Issues

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