Sectors assessed for specific effects included freshwater resources, terrestrial and ocean ecosystems, coasts, food, urban and rural areas, energy and industry, human health and security, and livelihoods and poverty. Specifically addressed in the IPCC AR5 Working Group II ( WGII) report published in 2014, effects of global warming on humans and human systems were assessed by both global sectors and regions. Referring to the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris ( COP21) from 30 November–11 December 2015, Ismail El Gizouli, Acting Chair of the IPCC said, “The (IPCC AR5) Synthesis Report, distilling the work of hundreds of experts, is an invaluable tool and resource for policymakers as the world prepares to finalize a global agreement on climate change later this year.”īased on the IPCC AR5 Summary for Policymakers ( SPM), the following synthesis of the effects of global warming on humans is presented as the most up-to-date evaluation currently available.

With a new focus on human risks, the March 2015 final publication of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Synthesis Report (SYR) brings a broadly improved, wide-ranging analysis to the international global warming round-table. Not only posing significant risks for Earth’s natural systems, the effects of global warming on humans and human systems have only recently begun receiving the expanded attention they critically require.įrom hazardous effects causing potential loss of life, injury, or other negative health impacts, to the potential exposure of social, economic, and infrastructure assets to adverse impacts, global warming places vulnerable human lives and systems in dangerous jeopardy.Įstablished by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is mandated “to provide the world community with the most up-to-date and comprehensive scientific, technical, and socio-economic information about climate change.” IPCC Assessment Reports have significantly motivated governments’ response to climate change, including the international adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.

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