The next five years are likely to see temperatures of up to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels as the Earth experiences its warmest decade on record, the Met Office said. Average global surface temperatures for 2019 to 2023 are forecast to be between 1.03C and 1.57C above the levels seen before the Industrial Revolution, experts said. If temperatures over the next five years are in line with the predictions, it will make the decade between 2014 and 2023 the hottest run of years in records reaching back to 1850.
The i News 7th Feb 2019 read more »
The recently published Scotland’s Nature on Red Alert report demonstrates that the future is looking bleak for many Scottish species and habitats. Commissioned on behalf of Scottish Environment LINK, a network of more than 35 environmental charit ies in Scotland, and WWF Scotland, the report draws together existing evidence of climate change impacts on Scotland’s biodiversity. In Scotland, climate change is changing the habitats of many species to such an extent that they can no longer live here. Species such as the Snow bunting is already a conservation concern as its mountaintop habitats are under threat, due to higher temperatures leading to less snow cover. Scotland’s globally significant machair habitat, only found in northern Scotland and north-west Ireland, is under threat from rising sea levels. Machair holds a variety of plants and insects which attract birds such as the Corncrake and the Corn bunting; it is also the last UK stronghold of the Great yellow bumblebee.
Scotsman 8th Feb 2019 read more »
