Worldmustadapttounknownclimatefuture,saysIPCCThereisstillgreatuncertaintyabouttheimpactsofclimatechange,accordingtothelatestreportfromtheIntergovernmentalPanelonClimateChange,releasedtoday.Soifwearetosurviveandprosper,ratherthantryingtofendoffspecificthreatslikecyclones,wemustbuildflexibleandresilientsocieties.Today'sreportisthesecondofthreeinstalmentsoftheIPCC'sfifthassessmentofclimatechange.Thefirstinstalment,releasedlastyear,coveredthephysicalscienceofclimatechange.Itstatedwithincreasedcertaintythatclimatechangeishappening,andthatitistheresultofhumanity'sgreenhousegasemissions.Thenewreportfocusesontheimpactsofclimatechangeandhowtoadapttothem.Thethirdinstalment,onhowtocutgreenhousegasemissions,comesoutinApril.ThelatestreportbacksofffromsomeofthepredictionsmadeinthepreviousIPCCreport,in2007.Duringthefinaleditingprocess,theauthorsalsoretreatedfrommanyofthemoreconfidentprojectionsfromthefinaldraft,leakedlastyear.TheIPCCnowsaysitoftencannotpredictwhichspecificimpactsofclimatechange–suchasdroughts,stormsorfloods–willhitparticularplaces.Instead,theIPCCfocusesonhowpeoplecanadaptinthefaceofuncertainty,arguingthatwemustbecomeresilientagainstdiversechangesintheclimate."Thenaturalhumantendencyistowantthingstobeclearandsimple,"saysthereport'sco-chairChrisFieldoftheCarnegieInstitutionforScienceinStanford,California."Andoneofthemessagesthatdoesn'tjustcomefromtheIPCC,itcomesfromhistory,isthatthefuturedoesn'teverturnoutthewayyouthinkitwillbe."Thatmeans,Fieldadds,that"beingpreparedforawiderangeofpossiblefuturesisjustalwayssmart".HereNewScientistbreaksdownwhatisnewinthereport,andwhatitmeansforhumanity'seffortstocopewithachangingclimate.Acompanionarticle,"Howclimatechangewillaffectwhereyoulive",highlightssomeofthekeyimpactsthatdifferentregionsarefacing.WhathaschangedinthenewIPCCreport?Inessence,thepredictionsareintentionallymorevague.Muchofthefirmerlanguagefromthe2007reportaboutexactlywhatkindofweathertoexpect,andhowchangeswillaffectpeople,hasbeenreplacedwithmorecautiousstateme...
