2100 could see ‘end of coral reefs, 4.2-degree rise in temperature’

WASHINGTON - If national targets are not revised in the Copenhagen Accord, 2100 could be the year coral reefs die out and global temperatures increase by 4.2-degrees, according to a new report.

A report in IOP Publishing’s Environmental Research Letters describes how lack of global action to date will cause us to miss our target increase of 2degrees.

The report shows that many developed countries such as the USA and the European Union have set their aims very low, aiming at reaching emission levels just a few percent lower than 1990 levels by 2020.

Only Japan and Norway are aiming to drastically reduce their emission to 25percent and 30 to 40percent below 1990 levels respectively.

The report added that even if nations would agree to a 50percent reduction of emission levels by 2050, even if nations would agree to a 50 percent reduction of emission levels by 2050.

Increasing ocean acidification, a direct result of growing atmospheric CO2 levels, could lead to a rapid decline of coral reefs and the marine ecosystem in the 21st century.

“It is clear from this analysis that higher ambitions for 2020 are necessary to keep the options for 2 � C and 1.5 � C open without relying on potentially infeasible reduction rates after 2020,” researchers wrote.

“In addition, the absence of a mid-century emission goal - towards which Parties as a whole can work and which serve as a yardstick of whether interim reductions by 2020 and 2030 are on the right track - is a critical deficit in the overall ambition level of the Copenhagen Accord.”

The results are presented in Environmental Research Letters. (ANI)