UN Education Outreach | Film Your Issue 2008

Video courtesy of UNEP

Climate Change

Climate Change has finally taken hold in the public consciousness. With it, inevitably, comes a sense of urgency that decisive action is needed now, before it’s too late. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called climate change the “defining issue of our era (…) How we address it, will define us, our era and ultimately the global legacy we leave for future generations.” For more information from the UN on climate change please click here.

Facts and Figures

Increased warming: The average global temperature went up by about 0.74°C during the 20th Century with the warming affecting land more than ocean areas.

There is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere: Carbon dioxide is the dominant contributor to current climate change and its atmospheric concentration has increased from a pre-industrial value of 278 parts-per million (ppm) to 379 in 2005.

More flooding and more desertification: More precipitation has been observed in the eastern parts of North and South America, northern Europe and northern and central Asia in recent decades. But the Sahel, the Mediterranean, southern Africa and parts of southern Asia have experienced drying.

Sea level is rising: The report is highly confident that the rate of observed sea level rise increased from the 19th to 20th century, and the total 20th century rise is estimated to be 0.17 metre.

Less snow cover: The maximum extent of frozen ground in the winter/spring season has decreased by about 7 per cent in the Northern Hemisphere since 1900, and on average rivers that freeze do so some 5.8 days later than a century ago and their ice breaks-up 6.5 days earlier.

Glaciers are melting: Mountain glaciers and snow cover have declined, on average, in both hemispheres, and have contributed to sea level rise by 0.77 millimetres a year from 1993 to 2003.

Arctic is warming: Satellite data since 1978 show that the average Arctic sea ice extent has shrunk by 2.7 per cent per decade.