Polar bears are going hungry as Arctic ice becomes thinner and scantier. One consequence has been that at least some of our garden now thinks that it is spring, the blood-red rhododendrons have started to flower. Insects colonise new areas and the parasites they carry colonise new human populations, formerly protected by a cooler or drier climate.
Humans living in normally disease-free areas are at special risk, because they lack immunity.
There are concerns that melting alpine permafrost will damage building foundations, including in the Swiss Alps. Computerised simulations of future climate predict major changes to rainfall and temperature patterns in the next century. Risk of conflict Further food insecurity in the Horn and sub-Saharan Africa is likely to exacerbate conflict, leading to countless additional deaths. South Asia is predicted by some models to lose agriculturally because of climate change. By 2050, the combined population of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan will approach two billion.