Climate Change Fact Sheet

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What is ‘climate change’? 
 
Climate change refers to the increasing concentration of heat-trapping 
greenhouse gases (GHGs) in our atmosphere and resulting changes to the 
Earth’s climate – most notably increasing air and water temperatures. Since 
the mid-1700s, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen 36 
percent and methane levels have risen 148 percent. Global average air 
temperature has risen by 0.6° C since 1900, and is projected to increase 
another 1.1° to 6.4° C over the next century. 
 
 
 
 
What causes climate change?  
 
Climate change is caused by human activities that result in the release of carbon dioxide and other GHG 
emissions into the atmosphere -- primarily the burning of fossil fuels and large-scale deforestation. The 
human cause of climate change has been endorsed by more than 40 scientific societies and academies 
of science, including all the national academies of science of the major developed countries.   
 
 
What are the global impacts of climate change? 
 
A change of even a few degrees in temperature destabilizes the delicate balance of the ecological 
systems on which humans rely. The global impacts of climate change include melting of the Arctic ice 
sheets, rising sea levels, species extinction, ecosystem disruption and loss, ocean acidification, severe 
weather events, and wider range of vector-borne disease such as malaria and dengue fever.  
 
 
How will climate change impact the Islands Trust Area?  
Coastal areas like the Islands Trust are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Local 
impacts are projected to include: 
 
Freshwater Resources  
•    Saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers due to sea level rise  
•    Changes in groundwater recharge rates and water table depths  
•    Decrease in available potable water and increased competition for water (drinking, irrigation)  
•    Increased risk of drought and/or flooding  
• Changes in water quality  
 
Marine and Aquatic Ecosystems 
•    Increased incidents of ‘red tide’  
•    Invasion by exotic species  
•    Shifts in species range and distribution  
•    Loss of near-shore habitat due to sea level rise 
 
Coastal Resources and Ecosystems  
•    Damage to coastal infrastructure and natural features due to sea level rise and storm surges  
•    Loss of coastal habitats due to sea level rise and erosion  
•    Increased costs for maintenance and expansion of coastal erosion control  
•    Loss of cultural and historical sites on coastline to sea level rise and related impacts  
 
 
 
FACT SHEET 
 
The Science of Climate Change 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Biodiversity  
•    Shifts in distribution and range of species  
•    Loss of species not able to adapt to changing climate conditions  
•    Increased competition from invasive species  
•    Loss of habitat  
• Challenges to maintenance of biodiversity through current protected areas system due to species 
migration  
 
Protected Areas  
•    Increased impacts from n

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