CLIMATE CHANGE IS ONE of the top threats that people in countries say confronts the world. Global warming is often referenced as a consequence of pollution and human activity. Levels vary across countries, yet a new report is showing a dire concern for one of the largest countries on the planet – Canada.

The North American nation is warming on average at twice the rate of the rest of the world, according to a new scientific report produced by the Environment and Climate Change Canada, the national government agency responsible for coordinating the country’s environmental policies. The average temperature in Canada today is 1.7 degrees Celsius (3 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than 70 years ago, according to the report. By comparison, the average global temperature increase during the same period is 0.8 degrees Celsius.

“Both past and future warming in Canada is, on average, about double the magnitude of global warming,” say the authors of the report. “Northern Canada has warmed and will continue to warm at more than double the global rate.”

Additionally, the warming produced from carbon dioxide emissions from human activity is “effectively irreversible,” the report’s authors warn.

Among some of the report’s major findings:

*Changes in temperature already show in various areas of the country and scientists say they will only intensify.

*Precipitation is projected to increase, on average, yet summer rainfall may decrease in particular regions.

*The Canadian Arctic and Atlantic Oceans have been the most impacted, with both experiencing “longer and more widespread sea-ice-free conditions”, the report says.

*The availability of freshwater is changing, the report says, with the risk of water supply shortages expected to increase in the summer.

The magnitude of climate change in high versus low emission scenarios paint two future scenarios for the country, according to the scientists. If large and rapid warming occurs, Canada’s climate with be severely affected as greenhouse gas emissions will grow. Limited warming may only occur, the report notes, if Canada and the rest of the world work on eliminating carbon emissions early in the second half of the century and on substantially lowering other greenhouse gases

Research for the report began in February 2017 and draws “primarily from existing sources of information that have been peer-reviewed and are publicly available,” the authors say.

The report’s authors also say human influence on climate change is clear. “It is likely that more than half of the observed warming in Canada is due to the influence of human activities.”

Earlier this year a global survey of people in 26 countries named climate change as the greatest threat to international security.