MIAMI, Fla. – ‘Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation’ is out, and none too soon: 2011 has been one of the most costly years on record for extreme weather events worldwide, and the U.S. has had more ‘billion dollar events’ than ever before. Released by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the new report reveals that changes in weather patterns and resulting ocean warming will have a direct effect on Florida.

Dr. Harold Wanless, professor and chair of the Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Miami, co-authored the report. He warns that by the end of this century, regions of South Florida will be uninhabitable.

‘There is consensus that Miami-Dade County will be abandoned, basically, by the end of the century. Mumbai will be abandoned – 15 million people, Atlantic City – you name it. With a four- or five-foot rise in sea level, most of the deltas of the world will be abandoned.’

The rise in sea level is a result of warming due to carbon dioxide gas released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels, Wanless explains. As sea water warms, polar ice melts.

The report reflects the recognition that the changing planetary […]