With the current condition of the planet, experts warn that Southern Spain will be transformed into a barren desert by the end of this century. Climate change in Europe has seen an alarming rate of warming, with the Mediterranean mostly taking the brunt of it as it is quite sensitive to altering temperatures. Scientists say that this transformation is going to be unprecedented and will likely cull the ecosystem in the region.
Expanding Deserts Will Be Seen On The Mediterranean Due To Climate Change In Europe
According to the Paris Agreement, governments will try to limit the increasing world surface temperature to two degrees Celsius or lower, with a preferred target of 1.5 Celsius. But even if that goal is somehow attained, only the 1.5 Celsius mark will ensure that the Mediterranean will remain its current condition, a state in which it has maintained in the past 10,000 years. The Med's sensitivity to global warming is due to the deviation of Atlantic Storms that often treads northwards leaving the region with less rain and more sun, the recent study stated.
If ongoing measures fail to considerably slow global warming, the worst case scenario is a surge of the surface temperature which can reach up to 5 Celsius worldwide by 2100. The climate change in Europe, in turn, will result in deserts expanding northward creeping its way across Spain and Sicily. The region would then experience a change beyond anything it has gone through during the Holocene, the Earth's current geological epoch which started some 11,000 or 12,000 years ago, the Independent reported.
Current Situation On Global Warming Could Be Worse Due To Other Human Factors
Unfortunately, the situation could be worse as the study did not account other human impacts that will affect this climate change in Europe. One such impact is the humans transforming forests to agriculture land as the rising temperature will likely affect staple foods in the region such as olives. Add the migration predicament into the mix and the complexity of the situation turns from a major headache to a full-blown migraine.
"The effect of the human is to deforest, to replace with agriculture and so on. You change the vegetation cover, the albedo, the humidity in the soil, and you will emphasize the drought when you do that," Joel Guiot said, lead author of the study. Scientists urge world leaders to act now so that positive results should be seen as soon as possible.
In a nutshell, the core of this finding is to start reducing carbon emissions now and not by 2020, The Guardian reported. Governments, businesses, and the general masses should work hand in hand in achieving the 1.5 Celsius goal of the Paris Agreement. Guiot said that by 2050, carbon emissions should have been decreased to zero in order to achieve the best result in this continuously worsening scenario felt by people across the globe.
