Climate Facts: Damaged ecosystems release carbon instead of storing it, says UN

The complexities of climate change and its associated jargon can make it difficult to digest. TheCable’s climate quick facts will help to demystify these climate concepts through easy-to-understand and straight-to-the-point explanations.

Here are some to keep at the tip of your fingers:

• According to the United Nations, healthy ecosystems can provide 37 percent of the mitigation needed to limit global temperature rise.
• Damaged ecosystems release carbon instead of storing it, the UN said.
• According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the world needs to cut emissions by 30 gigatonnes annually by 2030 to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C.
• United Nations Water says extreme weather events are making water more scarce, unpredictable, and polluted. The organisation added that these impacts are threatening sustainable development, biodiversity, and people’s access to water and sanitation.
• Warming over land is larger and more than twice as high in the Arctic, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).