recognition of the urgency of moving towards sustainable development pathways comes at times when warming of the climate is unequivocal intergovernmental panel on climate change l e p spm and is increasing the likelihood of severe pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems ibid the evidence points to the great economic human and environmental losses brought about by climate hazards which if left unattended are likely to continue the survey addresses the challenges of strengthening the capacity of countries and people to avoid development reversals from those hazards recent data suggest that the world has already warmed celsius from preindustrial levels and will continue to experience warming even if greenhouse gas emissions were immediately brought to a complete halt intergovernmental panel on climate change