What the World Will Look Like After Three Decades of Warming

Graphic by World Bank

A new report shows how rising sea levels, less water and a warming world will impact humanity.

The world is warming, sea levels are rising, and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon. In Texas, the heat waves of 2011 have been “explicitly attributed” to man’s impact on the climate, according to a 2012 World Bank report, ‘Turn Down the Heat.’ And the extreme drought of that same year — the driest year in recorded Texas history — was much more likely because of the changing climate.

A new report from the group this week follows up on that earlier one. It looks at the human cost of climate change, zeroing in on the areas of Sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia:

“Regular food shortages in Sub-Saharan Africa … shifting rain patterns in South Asia leaving some parts under water and others without enough water for power generation, irrigation, or drinking … degradation and loss of reefs in South East Asia resulting in reduced fish stocks and coastal communities and cities more vulnerable to increasingly violent storms … these are but a few of the likely impacts of a possible global temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius in the next few decades that threatens to trap millions of people in poverty.”

To break down the full report, the group put together an infographic to visualize that impact:

You can read more at the World Bank.