Melting glaciers, unbearable heat and space debris: A UN report published on Wednesday, a month before crucial climate talks in the United Arab Emirates, warns of irreversible consequences for the planet unless serious changes are made to the relevant social and physical systems. The Interrelated Disaster Risks Report identifies thresholds that it calls “risk tipping points”, defined as “the point at which a particular socio-ecological system can no longer balance risks and perform its expected function”; After this point, disaster risk increases significantly.

It focuses on six areas that connect the physical and natural world to human society: accelerated extinction, groundwater depletion, melting mountain glaciers, space debris, unbearable heat, and an “uninsured” future.

“As we indiscriminately extract our water resources, harm nature and biodiversity, and pollute Earth and space, we are dangerously close to multiple tipping points that could destroy the systems on which our lives depend,” said Zita Sebeshwari, lead author of the study. report.

For example: Underground reservoirs are an important source of freshwater worldwide and today reduce half of the agricultural losses caused by droughts exacerbated by climate change. But groundwater resources are now being depleted faster than they can be naturally replenished: Saudi Arabia has already passed the tipping point for groundwater risk, and India is not far behind.

As for accelerating extinctions, the report highlights the increasing impact of extinctions along the food chain.

“The endangered gopher tortoise digs burrows used by more than 350 species to breed, feed, protect from predators and avoid extreme temperatures,” he said.

If the goshawk dies, it will likely be followed by the goshawk frog, which helps control insect populations, with consequences for the entire forest ecosystem of the southeastern United States. Meanwhile, mountain glaciers that store large amounts of fresh water are melting twice as fast as they have in the past two decades.

Small glaciers in Central Europe, Western Canada, and South America have reached “peak water,” the point at which the glacier produces maximum water flow as a result of melting, or is expected to be reached within the next decade.

“More than 90,000 glaciers in the Himalayas, Karakorum and Hindu Kush mountains and approximately 870 million people who depend on them are at risk,” the report said.

As for space debris, the report warns that Earth’s orbit could become so filled with debris that a collision could set off a chain reaction that would threaten humanity’s ability to operate satellites, including those that provide vital early warning monitoring of disasters. The report notes that most of the solutions currently being implemented focus on delaying problems rather than truly addressing the root causes.

“We need to understand the difference between adapting to and avoiding risk inflection points, and between actions that delay impending risks and actions that push us towards transformation,” he said. Source