Ten predictions about climate change that have come true

Here are the hard facts about global warming that everyone should know, compiled for the UK Times by Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers.

Ten predictions made by climate scientists that have come true (or are becoming true):

1. That the Earth would warm as more CO₂ was put into the atmosphere (Svante Arrhenius in 1893).
2. That we'd begin to see noticable changes to Earth's climate by around 2000 (IPCC scientists ).
3. That sea-level would start rising.
4. That Earth's ice would start melting rapidly (James Hanson).
5. That hurricanes would increase in intensity (this one goes back to Alfred Russel Wallace in 1900).
6. That species would start going extinct as a result of climate change.
7. That Australia would start drying out (Hadley Centre scientists).
8. That tropical diseases would increase.
9. That food crops would be adversely affected.
10. That the CO₂ would begin to acidify the ocean.

The ten biggest changes to the weather wrought by climate change:

1. Shorter winters.
2. Less runoff into dams and reservoirs in many regions of the world.
3. More violent and longer hurricanes.
4. Less chilly nights.
5. Less predictable seasonal conditions.
6. Less snow.
7. More heat waves.
8. Less rain in many regions at various seasons.
9. More severe storms in the North Sea and parts of the southern Ocean.
10. Generally warmer conditions.

The ten places and animals in the world most endangered by global warming:

1. The glorious Cape Botanic province in South Africa, particularly the succulent Karoo flora.
2. Amphibians everywhere (a third of all species are already gravely endangered or extinct.
3. Coral reefs.
4. Species on mountaintops (many populations are already extinct).
5. The tundra.
6. The Arctic Ocean.
7. The Antarctic Peninsula.
8. Australia - where the drying trend is already precipitating a new wave of declines and extinctions.
9. The Amazon, where drying will affect forests and rivers.
10. The boreal forests, here pest infestations are destroying vast areas of trees.

For more information see the Times online.