Appolonia Adeyemi Global warming will expose thousands of species to dangerous temperatures in the coming decades, doubling the number of those at risk of extinction. These are the findings of a new research published in ‘Nature Ecology and Evolution’. Climate change currently affects almost 11,000 species on the Red List of Threatened Species, increasing the likelihood of their extinction.
Human activity is believed to have increased the average global temperature by approximately 1ºC since pre-industrial times, and this anthropogenic climate change poses a major threat to the planet’s biodiversity.
The new research suggests that this will worsen throughout the 21st century, during which the average global temperature is projected to rise a further 2.5ºC, and highlights the urgent need to reduce global carbon emissions and mitigate its impact on the environment.