“Hot Spots” of the climate change

Global warming will change the climate of the whole earth and that will have dramatic consequences.
Below we have collected some examples of results of the climate change that can already be seen now.


Hurricanes
Heavy hurricanes always occurred in the Caribbean Sea, but since the last decades the amount of very heavy hurricanes grew higher and higher. Ivan, Rita and Katrina are breaking all records, Ivan for instance destroyed more than 90 % of the buildings in the Caribbean regions where he raged, more than 70 people were killed.

The Sahel
The Sahel has always been one of the driest regions in the world. The inhabitant learned to live there. Normally, periods of drought where disrupted by a few short rainy periods so that the land could recover a bit to make farming possible. But in the last 30 years the rain stayed away, dunes are replacing the last trees and plants; the people who lived there are becoming refugees. There are already now worldwide more than 20 million refugees due to the climate change.

Coral Reefs are dying out
The global warming causes the temperature in the seas to rise about 1-2°C. This increase's consequence is that several species of algae, growing on big coral reefs, will be destroyed. This also causes the corals to die out. But the big coral reefs in the oceans are an important living space for all kinds of plants and animals in the sea. Furthermore the reefs protect the coasts against storm surges and erosion.

Tropical diseases in Europe
Warmer temperatures allow that animals that pass on tropical diseases can survive also in Europe. Even now there appeared cases of tropical diseases passed on by mosquito’s and other insects, for instance break-bone fever, malaria, yellow fever, leishmaniosis. Also diseases passed on by native ticks like encephalitis or borreliosis occur increasingly more and more, because of the mild weather

Australia: rare animals and plants are threatened with extinction
Australia is one of the most threatened regions. The global warming and the increasing sea level cause dryness, floods, bush fires. Whole national parks will be destroyed; lots of rare plants and animals will die out.