4.

4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4

4.1

Regional changes in climate, particularly increases in temperature, have already affected some physical and biological systems.

4.2

Both natural and human systems are vulnerable to climate change because of their limited adaptive capacity. This vulnerability varies with geographic location, time, and social, economic and environmental conditions.

4.3

Some extreme weather events and the damage, hardship, and death they cause are projected to increase with global warming. There is also a potential for large-scale and possibly irreversible impacts which pose risks that have yet to be reliably quantified; their likelihood is probably very low but is expected to increase with the rate, magnitude, and duration of climate change.

4.4

Man will have to adapt to and cope with the climate change consequences that are not prevented by mitigation. Economic losses can be expected, especially in poorest regions; the higher the warming, the greater the losses. Promoting adaptation, sustainable development and equity can be mutually reinforcing.