Some climate impacts "irreversible", "liveable future" at risk, warns UN

Climate change impacts are already grave, wide-ranging and in some cases "irreversible", UN experts said Monday, adding that even a temporary increase in warming to 1.5C could wreak permanent damage on some ecosystems. 

The toll on natural and human systems is "increasingly severe, interconnected and often irreversible", they said, adding that the "extent and magnitude" of some impacts is larger than previously thought. 

Any temperature increase over 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels will widen the scope of irreversible impacts to polar, mountain and coastal ecosystems, as well as areas affected by ice sheet and glacier melt, or accelerating sea level rise.