World on brink of environmental tipping points, UN says

FILE PHOTO: Activists with Glasgow Actions Team and 350.org hold a floating "invisible banner" that will appear to transform the Eiffel Tower into a wind turbine to welcome world leaders on the eve of the Summit for a New Global Financial Pact, at the Trocadero Square in Paris, France, June 21, 2023. The slogan reads "End Fossil Finance" and "Make Polluters Pay". REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The world is heading towards a series of environmental "tipping points" that could cause irreversible damage to water supplies and other life-sustaining systems, the research arm of the United Nations warned on Wednesday.

Climate change and the overuse of resources have put the world on the brink of six interconnected tipping points that "could trigger abrupt changes in our life-sustaining systems and shake the foundation of societies," the UN University's Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) said.