historic average – for the first six
months of 2016 is 1.3°C.
And sea ice cover in the Arctic has
for five of the six months been the
lowest for each respective month
since records began in 1979. March
was measured at the second lowest
ever.
The nations that met in Paris recognised that even a rise of 2°C could
have calamitous consequences for
developing nations, and especially
for small island states threatened
by sea level rise.
There has already been open concern that the economic costs of
climate change have been underestimated, and that the goals announced