25 Devastating Effects Of Climate Change (Part 5 of 5)

21. Equatorial regions and parts of the Antarctic will see up to a 50% decrease in their fisheries.

When the IPCC modeled about 1,000 marine species, it found almost a 50% decrease in catch in certain areas by 2060, using a scenario with an estimated 2.8 degree C temperature change. These analyses were made without even considering ocean acidification or overfishing.

22. Climate change may lead to more depression and anxiety.

One strange consequence of climate change is an increase in mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. In a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found that climate-caused disasters, such as floods, storms, and wildfires, can increase human anxiety and despair. Such events can even cause post-traumatic stress disorder in some people.

23. Some animals are shrinking.

Danielle Byerly, University of Florida An artist’s rendering of the early horse Hyracotherium (right) alongside a modern-day horse. Researchers found that Hyracotherium body size decreased 19% during a global warming event about 53 million years ago.
Fossil evidence tells us that when the planet was last at its warmest — about 55 million years ago during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum — many animals got smaller.

For example: One horse, Hyracotherium, usually the size of a small dog, shrunk in size by 30%.

The horse returned to its normal size when the temperature went back down. But 2 million years later, during another smaller global warming event, Hyracotherium shrunk by 19%.

“The fact that it happened twice significantly increases our confidence that we’re seeing cause and effect,” said University of Michigan Paleontologist Philip Gingerich, who presented his preliminary findings at the end of 2013. Past global warming, he said, appears to have caused many mammals to shrink.

Scientists are now starting to see history repeat itself. Studies have shown that many animals, including polar bears and some reptiles, have started shrinking as carbon dioxide levels increase.

24. Thousands of plants and animal species will lose their native habitats.

While over-exploitation and habitat destruction are the major threats to most species today, many experts agree that climate change will be the greatest cause of declines and extinctions in the future. A study published last year in the journal Nature Climate Change projected that half of all plants and a third of animals will lose more than 50% of their current range by 2080. As a result, the researchers predicted a “substantial reduction in biodiversity” by the end of the century.

25. 20 million more children will go hungry by 2050.

A report from the World Food Program expects extreme weather events like floods, droughts, forest fires, and tropical cyclones to damage farmlands, threatening food security for millions of people. Climate impacts on crop yields will increase the number of malnourished children by around 11 million in Asia, 10 million in Africa, and 1.4 million in Latin America, the report said.

By 2050, crop yields in Asia are expected to fall by 50% for wheat and 17% for rice compared to 2000 levels, according to the report. This will threaten billions of people who rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.

Sources: Yahoo, businessinsider.com

Image Credit: momsagainsthunger.typepad.com