All life on Earth depends on a healthy and stable climate. But human activities like burning fossil fuels, farming and deforestation are causing global warming at an accelerated speed. The effects are causing immediate effects on our climate and our planet is struggling to recover.
In Australia, we are already seeing an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events. Rising temperatures and acidity within our oceans are contributing to severe coral bleaching events, such as in 2016 and 2017 when more than one-third of the Great Barrier Reef was destroyed in back-to-back bleaching events. Changes to rainfall patterns, increasingly severe droughts, more frequent heatwaves and flooding are making it tougher for farmers to graze livestock and grow produce - reducing food availability and increasing the price of food.
With the speed of climate change we are currently experiencing, our natural world is being confronted with more pressure than it can handle. Many species are running out of time to adapt fast enough in order to keep up with their changing environment. This is being compounded by habitat destruction – making it difficult for them to find new places to live.
If we don’t act now to reduce carbon emissions and limit global warming to less than 1.5 °C, the impacts of global warming will continue to worsen. We urgently need your help.
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Your generous support today will help WWF to work with governments, industries and individuals to help reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. We encourage them to switch to renewable energy – to help minimise climate change and the warming that threatens our wildlife, their food sources and their habitats.
Alongside our partners, we also work to help endangered and vulnerable species like marine turtles and shy albatross adapt to the rapidly changing environment through our climate resilience work.