A new map illustrating the global consequences of failing to keep climate change to under 2 degrees Celsius was launched on October 22 by the UK Government.

British ministers are pressing for the most ambitious deal possible in order to avoid these dangerous impacts.

The map – launched at the Science Museum with just 45 days to go before international climate change talks begin in Copenhagen – by Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, Climate and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, along with the UK’s Chief Scientist, Professor John Beddington, was developed using the latest peer-reviewed science from the Met Office Hadley Centre and other leading impact scientists. The poster highlights some of the impacts that may occur if the global average temperature rises by 4 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial climate average.

The UK Government is calling for an agreement that’s ambitious, effective and fair. This means no more than 2 degrees temperature rise.

The poster shows:

• that a 4 degree average rise will not be spread uniformly across the globe. The land will heat up more quickly than the sea, and high latitudes, particularly the Arctic, will have larger temperature increases
• The average land temperature will be 5.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
• The impacts on human activity shown on the map are only a selection of those that may occur, and highlight the severe effects on water availability, agricultural productivity, extreme temperatures and drought, the risk of forest fire and sea level rise.
• Agricultural yields are expected to decrease for all major cereal crops in all major regions of production. Half of all Himalayan glaciers will be significantly reduced by 2050, leading to 23% of the population of China being deprived of the vital dry season glacial melt water source.