Here is another scary climate change story: according to a new study, the Middle East and North African regions could become unhabitable by 2050 because of rising temperatures.
In the Middle East and North Africa, the amounts of extremely hot days have doubled since the 1970s, and this number could increase again fivefold by the end of the century according to the study from researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and the Cyprus Institute in Nicosia.
This would lead to 80 extremely hot days per year by mid-century compared to just 16 currently. The number for the end of the century is just frightening: 118! That is four months of extreme heat…
Here is a graph that shows the situation at hand quite clearly:
One of the lead scientists – Panos Hadjinicolaou, Associate Professor at the Cyprus Institute and climate change expert – sums it :
“If mankind continues to release carbon dioxide as it does now, people living in the Middle East and North Africa will have to expect about 200 unusually hot days, according to the model projections.”
This is a large concern as half a billion people are currently living there and the worsening situation – including increased air pollution and duststorms – could lead to… an ” exodus “. So if you think the Syrian refugees were a massive problem, it is in reality just the beginning.
This is yet another reason to act on climate change as quickly and as strongly as possible. Carbon neutrality is just becoming more of an imperative each week.
Please refer to the official press release linked above for more details.