1. Communities:
“…Climate change creates new risks and exacerbates
existing vulnerabilities in communities across the United States, presenting
growing challenges to human health and safety, quality of life, and the rate of
economic growth…
2. Economy:
“Without substantial and sustained global
mitigation and regional adaptation efforts, climate change is expected to cause
growing losses to American infrastructure and property and impede the rate of
economic growth over this century…
3. Interconnected
Impacts:
“Climate change affects the natural, built, and
social systems we rely on individually and through their connections to one
another. These interconnected systems are increasingly vulnerable to cascading
impacts that are often difficult to predict, threatening essential services
within and beyond the Nation’s borders...
4. Actions to
Reduce Risks:
“Communities, governments, and businesses are
working to reduce risks from and costs associated with climate change by taking
action to lower greenhouse gas emissions and implement adaptation strategies.
While mitigation and adaptation efforts have expanded substantially in the last
four years, they do not yet approach the scale considered necessary to avoid
substantial damages to the economy, environment, and human health over the
coming decades…
5. Water:
“The quality and quantity of water available for
use by people and ecosystems across the country are being affected by climate
change, increasing risks and costs to agriculture, energy production, industry,
recreation, and the environment…
6. Health:
“Impacts from climate change on extreme weather and
climate-related events, air quality, and the transmission of disease through
insects and pests, food, and water increasingly threaten the health and
well-being of the American people, particularly populations that are already
vulnerable…
7. Indigenous
Peoples:
“Climate change increasingly threatens Indigenous
communities’ livelihoods, economies, health, and cultural identities by
disrupting interconnected social, physical, and ecological systems…
8. Ecosystems and
Ecosystem Services:
“Ecosystems and the benefits they provide to
society are being altered by climate change, and these impacts are projected to
continue. Without substantial and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas
emissions, transformative impacts on some ecosystems will occur; some coral
reef and sea ice ecosystems are already experiencing such transformational
changes…
9. Agriculture:
“Rising temperatures, extreme heat, drought,
wildfire on range lands, and heavy downpours are expected to increasingly
disrupt agricultural productivity in the United States. Expected increases in
challenges to livestock health, declines in crop yields and quality, and
changes in extreme events in the United States and abroad threaten rural
livelihoods, sustainable food security, and price stability…
10.
Infrastructure:
“Our Nation’s aging and deteriorating
infrastructure is further stressed by increases in heavy precipitation events,
coastal flooding, heat, wildfires, and other extreme events, as well as changes
to average precipitation and temperature. Without adaptation, climate change
will continue to degrade infrastructure performance over the rest of the century,
with the potential for cascading impacts that threaten our economy, national
security, essential services, and health and well-being…
11. Oceans &
Coasts:
“Coastal communities and the ecosystems that
support them are increasingly threatened by the impacts of climate change.
Without significant reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions and regional
adaptation measures, many coastal regions will be transformed by the latter
part of this century, with impacts affecting other regions and sectors. Even in
a future with lower greenhouse gas emissions, many communities are expected to
suffer financial impacts as chronic high-tide flooding leads to higher costs
and lower property values…
12. Tourism and
Recreation:
“Outdoor recreation, tourist economies, and quality
of life are reliant on benefits provided by our natural environment that will
be degraded by the impacts of climate change in many ways…” (Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II: Impacts, Risks and Adaptation in the United States).
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.