Describe the impacts of climate change on the environment and on people, including sea-level rise, extreme weather and food supply

What this dot point is asking

This outcome asks you to describe how a warming climate affects both the environment and people, covering impacts such as sea-level rise, more extreme weather, and threats to food and water. The central idea is that climate change does not just make the world warmer; it changes the sea, the weather, food supplies and ecosystems, with the heaviest impacts often falling on low-lying and poorer places.

The answer

Rising sea levels

As the planet warms, sea levels rise because warm water expands and ice on land melts. This floods low-lying coasts and islands, forces people from their homes, damages property and farmland, and makes storm surges more dangerous. Low-lying countries and coastal cities are especially at risk.

More extreme weather

Climate change makes extreme weather more frequent and severe:

• Stronger storms and heavier rainfall, causing flooding.
• Heatwaves that harm health and strain water and energy supplies.
• Droughts in some regions, drying out the land.

These events cause deaths, damage and disruption.

Threats to food and water

A changing climate threatens food and water:

• Changing rainfall and more droughts reduce harvests, raising the risk of hunger.
• Water supplies become less reliable as rainfall patterns shift and glaciers that feed rivers shrink.

This can lead to higher food prices and shortages, hitting poorer people hardest.

Harm to ecosystems and health

The natural world and human health suffer too:

• Coral reefs bleach and die in warmer seas; some plants and animals cannot adapt fast enough and decline.
• Habitats shift or are lost, threatening biodiversity.
• Warmer conditions can spread some diseases and worsen heat-related illness.

Who is most at risk

The impacts are uneven. Low-lying places (coasts and small islands) face the worst flooding, and poorer people and countries are most vulnerable because they have less money to protect themselves and recover, even though they have often done least to cause the problem.

Examples in context

Example 1. Threats to low-lying Singapore. As a low-lying island, Singapore is exposed to rising seas and more intense rainfall. The government's climate studies project higher sea levels and heavier downpours, which is why it invests in coastal protection and bigger drains. Singapore shows how a wealthy low-lying place takes the impacts seriously and plans ahead.

Example 2. Coral bleaching in the region. Warmer sea temperatures cause corals in Southeast Asian waters to bleach and sometimes die, harming the reefs that support fish and tourism. This environmental impact links climate change to both biodiversity loss and the livelihoods of coastal communities that depend on healthy reefs.

Try this

Q1. State two impacts of climate change on people. [2 marks]

• Cue. Coastal flooding from rising seas; food or water shortages from changing rainfall and droughts (also harm from extreme weather).

Q2. Explain why poorer communities are often most affected by climate change. [2 marks]

• Cue. They have less money to protect themselves (for example with sea defences) and to recover from damage, so they are more vulnerable.

Q3. Explain one impact of climate change on the natural environment. [2 marks]

• Cue. Warmer seas cause coral reefs to bleach and die, harming the fish and ecosystems that depend on them (also habitat loss for species that cannot adapt).