Humankind has been experiencing the impact of rising temperatures and changes in climate for decades, and the effects are far-reaching and varied.

Some of the more severe impacts include:

  • More frequent and intense natural disasters, such as hurricanes
  • Rising sea levels and coastal flooding
  • Heat waves and damaging wildfires
  • Food shortages and famine
  • Longer and more intense drought
  • Widespread forest and vegetation destruction
  • Heavier precipitation and flooding
  • Destruction of coral reefs
  • Changes in animal and plant behavior
  • Widespread public health issues, including increased air pollution and reduction in access to vital medications
  • Political and economical turmoil, particularly due to financial pressures
  • Global mental health concerns

Current Impacts

Unfortunately some of the poorest nations and people in the world will be the most dramatically affected by the earliest impacts of climate change.

Certain populations, including groups from the South Pacific islands are already being forced to migrate due to rising water levels or long droughts.

In Australia, scientists have linked a number of recent natural phenomena to climate change, including droughts on the east coast, intense bush fires, reduction in rainfall in Western Australia, and the increases in coral bleaching on the Great Barrier and Western Australian Reefs.

Globally, scientists are recording glaciers shrinking in size, and seasonal changes arriving sooner, such as ice breaking up on rivers and trees flowering sooner than expected.

Effects that scientists had predicted in the past would result from global climate change are now occurring, including loss of sea ice, accelerated sea levels rising and longer, more intense heat waves.

To learn more about current impacts, visit these pages:

Future Impacts

According to the IPCC, the extent of climate change effects on individual regions will vary over time, and with the ability of different societal and environmental systems to mitigate or adapt to change.

Global temperatures will continue to rise for decades due to greenhouse gases produced by human activity, despite measures to reduce the impacts.


“ Taken as a whole,” the IPCC states, “the range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time.”

For more on global climate change predictions visit:


The regional impact of climate change around the globe – DW News
(Source: Climate Council)

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