By the end of February, the UN Climate Panel (IPCC) has had to publish its sixth Assessment Report (AR6) on the latest conditions of Earth's climate. The report will be completed at a virtual conference, attended by scientists and government representatives from 200 countries, starting Monday.
The latest IPCC report is believed to contain a somber catalogue containing the impact of climate disasters on all aspects of human life. It also describes future perspectives, as well as the risks or advantages gained by adapting to warmer climates.
"We are concerned about the ever-changing climate around us," said IPCC Director Debra Roberts, a South African climate scientist. "But for most people, in their daily lives they want to know what the impact is on their lives, for aspirations, for work, family and the environment they inhabit?"
The report contains seven chapters "on how physical changes in climate change impact people's lives," particularly in urban areas, he said.
Even without reviewing the IPCC report first, environmentalists have predicted a "nightmare" for Earth's citizens.
"The IPCC report, which features frightening evidence of the escalation of the effects of climate change, will be presented in a nightmarish form depicted in dry scientific language," Teresa Anderson, director of climate justice at ActionAid International, said in a statement.
Over the next two weeks, scientists and government representatives will debate each other's draft final text, including grammar. The convention opened to the public on Monday in Berlin, Germany. As for the draft script that has been circulating, it can change drastically in this last phase.
According to the plan, after publishing AR6 which concludes the latest climate conditions, the IPCC will also publish another report on climate disaster adaptation and solutions next March.
Without elaborating, one of the study's makers, Hans-Otto Poertner, mentioned how science had predicted limits on average temperature increases or on biodiversity extinctions. According to him, the limit is getting closer in various places.
"We are losing life space to flora and fauna, as well as to ourselves," the German scientist said. "Because with climate change, a number of places on earth's surface will become uninhabitable."
He criticized the attitude of rich countries that have prepared for disasters, not prevent them.
"There is an assumption that if we can't control climate change, then we're resigned and trying to adapt. So, we are adapting to the effects of climate change. It's an approach that relies on illusions."
The IPCC report will be a stark warning to almost all countries how small policies are no longer enough to ward off climate catastrophe. "You can't just rely on small changes," said IPCC climate scientist Debra Roberts. "You need systematic change."