New Study: Areas Most Vulnerable to Climate Change Induced Collapse

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week, and featured today in the Guardian, has identified the nine most fragile and vulnerable regions of the planet and warned that many are in danger of sudden and irreversible collapse before the end of the 21st Century.

The Arctic and Greenland ice sheets are identified as being the most vulnerable to passing irreversible “tipping points”, with the Amazon rainforest coming a close second. The scientists calculate that the Arctic sea ice will go into irreversible decline once temperatures increase between 0.5 – 2C on temperatures at the start of the century. Warming of 3-5C could reduce rainfall in the Amazon by 30%.

The team behind the paper includes scientists from the University of Eact Anglia, Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research in Germany. The opinions of environmental experts were combined with the results of discussions amongst climate researchers at a workshop to generate the results.