The world has just experienced its hottest decade
A report considered the world's most trusted source of climate updates has laid out the parlous state of a planet that has recorded its 10 hottest years over the last decade.
The World Meteorological Organization's State of the Global Climate report lists alarming records that scientists say should shock the world into taking drastic action – but they warn they probably won't, given the lack of urgency displayed by global leaders to date.
The report found the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide – as well as methane and nitrous oxide – are at the highest levels in the last 800,000 years.
Here are the report's main findings:
2024 set a new heat record
Last year was confirmed to be the hottest since records began 175 years ago, beating the previous record set in 2023.
And 2024 was likely to be the first time global temperatures exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above the baseline set in 1850-1900, according to the WMO.
Scientists say that doesn't mean that we've permanently crossed global limits set under the Paris Agreement – which the United States left on the first day of President Donald Trump's second term – but we're getting close.
Record levels of greenhouse gases were mostly to blame for higher temperatures, aided by a short-term boost from El Niño, a weather pattern that creates warmer water in the eastern Pacific, the report said.
Long-term global warming is estimated to be between 1.34 and 1.41 degrees Celsius up on the pre-industrial era, the WMO said.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius was still possible, but 'leaders must step up to make it happen.'
Each of the past eight years set a record for ocean heat
Rising global temperatures inevitably mean warmer water, as oceans absorb 90 percent of the surplus heat.
New heat records have been set for each of the last eight years, and the rate of ocean warming over the past two decades is more than twice that recorded from 1950 to 2005.
Warm water has caused severe bleaching of coral reefs over the past year, fueled tropical and subtropical storms and exacerbated the loss of sea ice.
A marine biologist from the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources conducts an assessment on a reef damaged by coral bleaching on May 8, 2024 in Trat, Thailand.The rate of sea-level rise has doubled since satellite measurements began
The rate of global mean sea-level rise has doubled since the first satellite record in 1993, to reach a record high in 2024, the report said.
The rise of 2.1 millimeters per year recorded between 1993 and 2002 has been dwarfed by a 4.7-millimeter increase between 2015 and 2024.
Higher sea levels have knock-on effects for coastal communities, including flooding, erosion and the salinization of groundwater.
Sea-level rise is exacerbated by sea ice melt, and there's no sign that's slowing. The three years since 2021 brought the biggest three-year loss of Glacier mass on record.
'Exceptionally negative' losses were recorded in Norway, Sweden, Svalbard and the tropical Andes, the WMO said.
Glaciers in Svalbard and Jan Mayen on July 18, 2024.
Sebnem Coskun/Anadolu/Getty Images
2024 saw the most people displaced due to climate impacts in 16 years
Tropical cyclones, floods, droughts, and other hazards in 2024 displaced the highest number of people since 2008, when 36 million people were forced from their homes.
That year, around half – 15 million – were displaced in China after the Sichuan earthquake. Flooding also affected millions in India.
In 2024, tropical cyclones and hurricanes brought destructive winds, severe rain and flooding. Dozens of unprecedent heatwaves were recorded including in Saudi Arabia where temperatures reached 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) during the Hajj pilgrimage.
Wildfires and severe drought also raged through some countries, displacing people and disrupting food supplies. In eight countries, at least one million more people faced acute food insecurity compared with 2023, the WMO said.
A man carrying his livestock wades through flood waters in Feni, in south-eastern Bangladesh, on August 24, 2024.
Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Images
Some of the turmoil could have been avoided with early-warning systems, though in parts of the world most vulnerable to climate impacts, there's very little advance notice of disaster.
'Only half of all countries worldwide have adequate early-warning systems. This must change,' said Celeste Saulo, WMO secretary-general.
What scientists say
Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, a professor at the Australian National University's Fenner School of Environment and Society, said the world had reached a point where net zero emissions were no longer enough.
'We need to stop hitting snooze on our alarm, which is the now regularly occurring record-breaking global temperatures,' she said. 'How much more do we need to scream and shout that climate change is happening, it's because of us, and without any serious action, it's only going to get worse? The longer this goes in, the harder it will be to make things better.'
Linden Ashcroft, a lecturer in climate science at The University of Melbourne, said not enough attention had been paid to warnings.
'Honestly, I'm not quite sure what to do next. Scream these findings from the tops of buildings? Write my comments in capitals? Saying all this while dancing on TikTok?' she said in a written statement.
'Unless we see real climate leadership from governments and businesses, I will save this response and send it through again next year.'
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Mid East Info
6 days ago
- Mid East Info
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The first genome sequenced from ancient Egypt reveals surprising ancestry, scientists say
CNN — In a long-sought first, researchers have sequenced the entire genome of an ancient Egyptian person, revealing unprecedented insight about the ancestry of a man who lived during the time when the first pyramids were built. The man, whose remains were found buried in a sealed clay pot in Nuwayrat, a village south of Cairo, lived sometime between 4,500 and 4,800 years ago, which makes his DNA the oldest ancient Egyptian sample yet extracted. The researchers concluded that 80 percent of his genetic material came from ancient people in North Africa while 20 percent traced back to people in West Asia and the Mesopotamia region. Their findings, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, offer new clues to suggest there were ancient cultural connections between ancient Egypt and societies within the Fertile Crescent, an area that includes modern-day Iraq (once known as Mesopotamia), Iran and Jordan. 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Pottery and other artifacts have suggested that Egyptians may have traded goods and knowledge across neighboring regions, but genetic evidence of just how closely different ancient civilizations mingled has been harder to pin down because conditions such as heat and humidity quickly degrade DNA, according to the study authors. This man's remains, however, were unusually well-preserved in their burial container, and the scientists were able to extract DNA from one of the skeleton's teeth. While the findings only capture the genetic background of one person, experts said additional work could help answer an enduring question about the ancestry of the first Egyptians who lived at the beginning of the longest-lasting known civilization. A pottery vessel containing the man's remains was discovered in 1902. Garstang Museum of Archaeology, University of Liverpool Decoding a DNA puzzle Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo, who won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 2022 for sequencing the first Neanderthal genome, made pioneering attempts 40 years ago to extract and study DNA from ancient Egyptian remains, but he was unable to sequence a genome. Poor DNA preservation consistently posed an obstacle. Since then, the genomes of three ancient Egyptian people have been only partially sequenced by researchers using 'target-enriched sequencing' to focus on specific markers of interest in the specimens' DNA. The remains used in that work date back to a more recent time in Egyptian history, from 787 BC to AD 23. It was ultimately improvements in technology over the past decade that paved the way for the authors of the new study to finally sequence an entire ancient Egyptian genome. 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'But I think we will see additional genomes published from ancient Egypt over the coming years, possibly from individuals buried in ceramic pots.' While Egypt's overall climate is hot, the region has relatively stable temperatures, a key factor for long-term genetic preservation, Girdland-Flink said. That climate, the clay pot used for burial and the rock tomb it was placed in all played a role in preventing the man's DNA from deteriorating, he said. The clay pot was found inside a tomb cut into the rock at Nuwayrat, south of Cairo. Garstang Museum of Archaeology, University of Liverpool Tracing unique ancestry For their analysis, the researchers took small samples of the root tips of one of the man's teeth. They analyzed the cementum, a dental tissue that locks the teeth into the jaw, because it is an excellent tool for DNA preservation, Girdland-Flink said. Of the seven DNA extracts taken from the tooth, two were preserved enough to be sequenced. Then, the scientists compared the ancient Egyptian genome with those of more than 3,000 modern people and 805 ancient individuals, according to the study authors. Chemical signals called isotopes in the man's tooth recorded information about the environment where he grew up and the diet he consumed as a child as his teeth grew. The results were consistent with a childhood spent in the hot, dry climate of the Nile Valley, consuming wheat, barley, animal protein and plants associated with Egypt. But 20 percent of the man's ancestry best matches older genomes from Mesopotamia, suggesting that the movement of people into Egypt at some point may have been fairly substantial, Girdland-Flink. Dental anthropologist and study coauthor Joel Irish also took forensic measurements of the man's teeth and cranium, which matched best with a Western Asian individual. Irish is a professor in the School of Biological and Environmental Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University. The study provides a glimpse into a crucial time and place for which there haven't been samples before, according to Iosif Lazaridis, a research associate in the department of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University. Lazaridis was not involved with the new study but has done research on ancient DNA samples from Mesopotamia and the Levant, the eastern Mediterranean area that includes modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and parts of Turkey. The remains are now kept at World Museum Liverpool. Garstang Museum of Archaeology, University of Liverpool Researchers have long questioned whether the Egyptians from the beginnings of the Dynastic civilization were indigenous North Africans or Levantine, Lazaridis said. 'What this sample does tell us is that at such an early date there were people in Egypt that were mostly North African in ancestry, but with some contribution of ancestry from Mesopotamia,' Lazaridis said. 'This makes perfect sense geographically.' Lazaridis said he hopes it's the beginning of more research on Egypt, acknowledging that while mummification helped preserve soft tissue in mummies, the chemical treatments used in the mummification process were not ideal for ancient DNA preservation. 'I think it is now shown that it is feasible to extract DNA from people from the beginnings of Egyptian civilization and the genetic history of Egypt can now begin to be written,' he said. A mysterious burial By studying the man's skeleton, the team was able to determine that he was just over 5 feet tall and between 44 and 64 years old, likely closer to the end of that range — 'which is incredibly old for that time period, probably like 80s would be today,' Irish said. Genetic analysis suggests he had brown eyes and hair and dark skin. And his bones told another tale: just how hard he labored in life, which seems at odds with the ceremonial way he was buried within the ceramic vessel. Indications of arthritis and osteoporosis were evident in his bones, while features within the back of his skull and vertebra showed he was looking down and leaning forward for much of his lifetime, Irish said. Muscle markings show he was holding his arms out in front of him for extended periods of time and carrying heavy materials. The sit bones of his pelvis were also incredibly inflated, which occurs when someone sits on a hard surface over decades. There were also signs of substantial arthritis within his right foot. Irish looked over ancient Egyptian imagery of different occupations, including pottery making, masonry, soldering, farming and weaving, to figure out how the man might have spent his time. 'Though circumstantial these clues point towards pottery, including use of a pottery wheel, which arrived in Egypt around the same time,' Irish said. 'That said, his higher-class burial is not expected for a potter, who would not normally receive such treatment. Perhaps he was exceptionally skilled or successful to advance his social status.' Before the pottery wheel and writing systems were shared between cultures, domesticated plants and animals spread across the Fertile Crescent and Egypt in the sixth millennium BC, as societies transitioned from being hunter-gatherers to living in permanent settlements. Now, the study team wonders whether human migrations were also part of that shift. Additional ancient genomes from Egypt, Africa and the Fertile Crescent could supply answers about who lived where and when. 'This is just one piece of the puzzle that is human genetic variation: each person who ever lived — and their genome — represents a unique piece in that puzzle,' Girdland-Flink said in an email. 'While we will never be able to sequence everyone's genome, my hope is that we can gather enough diverse samples from around the world to accurately reconstruct the key events in human history that have shaped who we are today.' 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