Jonathan Smith's List: UNEP WCMC PPG

• in general, climate change has already or is expected to

    
   

  • increase temperatures, particularly in the interior of continents, toward the poles and in winter

   

  • boost precipitation in wetter areas and suppress precipitation in drier areas

   
    
  Climate change is affecting weather and temperature.
    
   

  • increase rain and decrease snow

   

  • lessen peak spring runoff and cause more even year-round flows of water, thereby reducing water availability during summer irrigation and navigation seasons

   

  • increase evaporation of water during the summer

   

  • enhance the likelihood of lower mean lake levels, drier wetlands, and water shortages, particularly in mountain regions

   

  • raise the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods

   

  • raise global sea levels causing some populated coastal areas to become inundated

   

  • reduce the extent and duration of Arctic sea ice with adverse consequences for marine mammals

   

  • increase permafrost melting, thereby altering soil stability and limiting modes of transportation

   

  • increase the loss of glaciers in middle and equatorial latitudes, including premier mountain ecosystems such as Glacier National Park in Montana

   
    
  It’s 6°C warmer now than 100 years ago.
    

  Global average temperature has increased by about 0.6°C over the past 100 years, with a major warming upswing in the 1970s. Warming is the result, in part, of rapid increases in emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), particularly carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is a byproduct of the combustion of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, used for power generation and transportation.

  • Potential effects of climate change

• Climate change will affect national parks, forest reserves and other protected areas around the world, in some cases altering conditions so severely that the resulting environments will be virtually new to the planet, according to a study presented at the U.N. climate change talks in Bali, Indonesia.

• On 18-19 June 2007, scientists, non government and government experts were brought together by WWF and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) to find ways to enhance the key role of Australia's National Reserve System in enabling biodiversity, our native plants and wildlife, to adapt to and survive climate change.
• On 18-19 June 2007, scientists, non government and government experts were brought together by WWF and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) to find ways to enhance the key role of Australia's National Reserve System in enabling biodiversity, our native plants and wildlife, to adapt to and survive climate change. Symposium participants agreed that in the national climate change arena there is a critical need for recognition that we can, and must, take early and practical steps to enhance and recover the natural resilience to climate change of our ecosystems, plants and animals.
• expand the National Reserve System to meet already agreed targets

  • But this is in light of existing good capacity to manage - is the same necessarily true in WA?

1 more annotation...

•    Protected areas can play an important role in reducing biodiversity loss due to global warming, reports a new study published March 30 in the journal Frontiers in Environment and Ecology (FREE).

  • Not inevitable extinction, and PAs can play a useful role.