Major impacts of rapid climate change on land, oceans and atmosphere

 1. Displacement

Because of hydrometeorological events such as Cyclone Idai in Southeast Africa and Cyclone Fani in South Asia, as many as 6.7 million displacements were recorded in those areas in the past years. A total of 22 million displacements were recorded all over the world, most of which were due to floods and storms.

2. Food Security

Global hunger has been on the rise due to climate change in the past few years. After a decade of decline in hunger rates, it has increased again in the past year. According to several media reports, more than 820 million people were suffering because of the lack of food in the past year. This is because of unusually heavy rainfalls and severe dryness in agricultural areas.

3. Floods

According to several reports, more than 2,200 lives were lost last year in countries such as India, Nepal and Bangladesh because of heavy floods. The weather conditions in South America were also very wet with unusually high rainfall rates the entire year. Major flooding also affected many parts of east Africa in October and November 2019.

4. Drought

Drought affected many parts of southeast Asia and Australia, which had its driest year on record, influenced by the strong positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole. Southern Africa, Central America and parts of South America received abnormally low precipitation amounts.

5. Heatwaves

Australia had record-high temperatures in the beginning and the end of the year in 2019. Last year's summer had the highest recorded temperature, with Australia's seven hottest days in history were all recorded in 2019. Europe also recorded very hot summers with temperature in France rising up to 46 degree Celsius and temperature in Germany was 42.6 degree Celsius.

6. Wildfires

Australia wildfires were one of the most devastating wildfires ever recorded in the world. According to reports, the prolonged fires killed nearly 33 people and burned 7 million hectares of land. The severe drought in Indonesia also led to major wildfires in several areas. The daily total wildfire CO2 emissions were also very high last year.

7. Tropical Cyclones

The total cyclone activity in the past year has been above average in most cyclone-prone areas. The Northern Hemisphere observed around 72 cyclones while the Southern Hemisphere had 27 cyclones. One of the most intense tropical cyclones was Dorian, which was observed in the Bahamas. The cyclone was near-stationary for almost 24 hours.