Climate Change News: More Flooding, Droughts On The Way, Environmental Agency Warns

The U.K. Environmental Agency on Wednesday warned of further flooding and droughts if world leaders fail to implement stricter climate mitigation measures.

The climate report comes with about two weeks until world leaders convene at the United Nations Climate Summit in Glasgow to discuss how they will approach the growing climate crisis.

“It is adapt or die,” the agency’s chair Emma Howard Boyd said in a report to the British government.

The report said that investing in climate-resilient infrastructures will help save lives and minimize the destruction caused by the predicted increase in flooding, drought and rising sea levels.

The agency also warned of greater demand on water supply due to global warming.

“We can successfully tackle the climate emergency if we do the right things, but we are running out of time to implement effective adaptation measures,” she said. “While mitigation might save the planet, it is adaptation, preparing for climate shocks, that will save millions of lives.”

According to the report, London’s sea level is expected to rise 9 inches by the 2050s and almost 18 inches by the 2080s.

However, the many effects of climate change are already visible.

As of July, the Amazon rainforest was emitting more carbon dioxide than it absorbs due to increased forest fires from growing deforestation to create more space for beef and soy production. Meanwhile, record rainfall has led to deadly floods all over Western Europe.

“The climate crisis is global, but its impacts are in your village, your shop, your home,” Howard Boyd said.

“Adaptation action needs to be integral to government, businesses and communities, too, and people will soon question why it isn’t – especially when it is much cheaper to invest early in climate resilience than to live with the costs of inaction,” she added.