The World Meteorological Organization,... the UN's weather agency, has released a grim prediction on what could happen to the world if carbon and greenhouse gas emissions continue to be pumped into the atmosphere unchecked.
The dire assessment comes on the eve of a big climate conference in Poland.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
With COP24, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, opening this weekend,... experts are warning that global warming will lead to rising sea levels and a perilous food crisis.
"The sea level rise is anyhow going to be a threat for several coastal regions and coastal cities and population-wise we have the largest amounts of population in big Asian countries, China and India, and there we have also the largest parts of big cities that are exposed to sea-level rise. But we have those also in Europe like London, or North America like Los Angeles and New York, as well as big cities in South America and a couple of them also in Africa."
That's not all.
According to a report by the WMO,... global temperatures are on pace for a three to five degree Celsius rise this century,... far surpassing the global target of limiting the increase to two degrees Celsius or less.
Experts say it's crucial to limit the rise of global temperatures to two degrees to avoid more extreme weather, rising sea levels and the loss of plant and animal species.
Citing that the last four years were the hottest since records began in the 1850s,... the WMO chief said with a possible El Nino,... next year could be even hotter than 2018.
With the rise in the mercury, the agency head said carbon dioxide levels are at their highest point in three million years,... adding it could take thousands of years for the excess CO2 to disappear.
With the most important UN climate conference since the 2015 Paris climate summit taking place in Katowice, Poland,... one of the most polluted coal-mining regions in Europe,... the talks are intended to produce a "rule book" on how to implement the Paris climate deal.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.
