Calling for global action to limit the devastating consequences, the head of the United Nations said “billions of people are facing an extreme heat epidemic – wilting under increasingly deadly heatwaves”.

Extreme-heat events have been getting more frequent, intense and longer-lasting in recent decades as a result of human-made climate change.

Guterres’ appeal comes as the record for the world’s hottest day was broken twice on consecutive days this week, according to Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Monday beat Sunday, with the global average surface air temperature reaching 17.16 Celsius, as parts of the world sweltered through fierce heatwaves from the Mediterranean to Russia and Canada.

Guterres said the UN had just received preliminary data indicating that Tuesday “was in the same range”, which would make a third hottest straight day on record, if confirmed.

In a speech, he noted that heat – driven by “fossil fuel-charged, human-induced climate change” – is estimated to kill almost half a million people a year, about 30 times more than tropical cyclones.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, December 1, 2023. COP28/Christophe Viseux/Handout via REUTERS

This year alone, extreme heat struck highly vulnerable communities across the Sahel region, killed at least 1,300 pilgrims in Mecca during Hajj and shut down schools across Asia and Africa affecting more than 80 million children.

“And we know it’s going to get worse. Extreme heat is the new abnormal,” Guterres added in his speech to journalists at UN headquarters in New York.

The Secretary-General’s “call for action” brings together ten specialised UN agencies for the first time in an urgent and concerted push to strengthen international cooperation in addressing extreme heat.

Focus on most vulnerable

Guterres listed four areas where greater efforts could be made to keep people, societies and economies safer from the negative consequences of rising global temperatures.

He emphasised the importance of “caring for the most vulnerable” – with those at greatest risk including poor people in urban areas, pregnant women, people with disabilities, the elderly, children, those who are sick and people who are displaced from their homes.

Households living in poverty often live in substandard homes without access to cooling, he added, appealing for a boost in access to low-carbon cooling and expanded use of natural measures – which include planting trees for shade – and better urban design, alongside a ramp-up of heat warning systems.

Graphic from Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change

Workers also need more protection, he said, as a new report from the International Labour Organization warned that over 70 percent of the global workforce – 2.4 billion people – are now at high risk of extreme heat, especially in Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Arab States.

The UN is calling on governments to urgently review laws and regulations on occupational safety and health to integrate provisions for extreme heat, including the right to refuse working in extreme hot weather.

Energy transition and adaptation

A third area targeted by the UN for action is making economies and societies better able to withstand heat, through stronger infrastructure, more resilient crops, and efforts to ease the pressure on health systems and water supplies.

“Countries, cities, and sectors need comprehensive, tailored Heat Action Plans, based on the best science and data,” Guterres said.

Lastly, the UN chief urged stepped-up action to “fight the disease”, by phasing out fossil fuels “fast and fairly” including no new coal projects, with the aim of limiting global warming to 1.5C – a goal nearly 200 governments signed up to in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

“I must call out the flood of fossil fuel expansion we are seeing in some of the world’s wealthiest countries,” he emphasised. “In signing such a surge of new oil and gas licenses, they are signing away our future.”

The United States, Canada, Australia, Norway and the UK have issued two-thirds of the global number of oil and gas licences since 2020, according to research published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development this week.

‘Still time to act’

Commenting on the UN’s call to action, Alan Dangour, director of climate and health at Wellcome, a UK-based science foundation, noted that people working outside in physical jobs and those who cannot afford to adapt to rising heat are particularly exposed – but the effects are far broader.

“The levels of heat we now routinely see around the world put every part of society under extreme pressure, directly harming our health while also affecting food and water security and much of our vital infrastructures,” he said in a statement.

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, scientists convened by Wellcome said there are positive measures that can be taken to combat the problem of extreme heat, which can also bring wider social benefits.

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For example, they explained that using community facilities as cooling centres can offer older people a place to chat or play cards, tackling social isolation and heat stress at the same time. Or adding shades with solar panels to market stalls can help women traders keep working on hot days while also providing free electricity for their businesses.

“There is still time for concerted action to save lives from the impacts of climate change, but we can no longer afford to delay,” Dangour said.

A construction worker drinks water while working on a building during hot weather in Pristina, Kosovo, June 19, 2024. (Photo: REUTERS/Valdrin Xhemaj)

The UN’s call for action points out that existing tools to reduce the devastating consequences of extreme heat could be deployed with large and far-reaching effects. Guterres said the good news is that “there are solutions… that we can save lives and limit its impact”.

For example, a global scale-up of heat health warning systems could save more than 98,000 lives every year, according to the World Health Organization. And the rollout of occupational safety and health measures could avoid $361 billion a year in medical and other costs, the ILO has estimated.

The UN chief urged a “huge acceleration of all the dimensions of climate action” as global warming is currently outpacing efforts to fight it. That could start to change, he added, as heatwaves, impacts on public health and disasters such as Canada’s wildfires are now hitting the richest countries as well as poorer ones.

“The heat is being felt by those that have decision-making capacity – and that is my hope,” he said.

(Reporting and editing by Matteo Civillini and Megan Rowling)

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“Work is lighter during Ramadan and just in the evenings because even the management is relaxed. But when I work fewer hours, I get paid less too,” says the Indian migrant worker. “I am also worried about what it will be like after Ramadan because we will work in the daytime again until July. It is going to be really hot.”

It is not unusual for daily temperatures to top 35C and a high of 45C was recorded in Abu Dhabi’s Al Dhafra region last week. Climate change is increasing the frequency of heatwaves in urban hubs across the Arabian Gulf: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar.

This year Ramadan began on 2 April and will last 29 or 30 days, depending on the moon. Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, around 14 hours a day for those living in Saudi Arabia. That means no eating or drinking, even water.

An analysis of weather station data that was recorded till March 2020, shows some parts of the UAE have crossed the temperature threshold that the human body can withstand. Ras al Khaimah has, at times, recorded wet bulb temperatures of 35C, when the body is no longer able to cool itself by sweating.

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The oil-rich countries of the region generally have a better capacity to cope with the extreme climate as most daily life takes place in air-conditioned indoor settings. But weather like this is especially challenging for the very large population of migrant workers already facing long work hours, wage theft, and unsuitable living spaces.

To protect these workers, all Gulf countries prohibit outdoor work during the hottest hours of the day, but this is limited to the summer season, which doesn’t officially begin till mid-June. During that period, outdoor work stops from around noon to 3 or 4pm, depending on the country.

However, for workers like Jangid, temperatures reach dangerous levels before the summer season starts, forming a dire health hazard.

Migrant construction workers in the UAE (Photo: Zeashan Ashraf)

A 2019 heatwave in the region in early June – before the official start of the summer – recorded the highest temperature on Earth, 63C in direct sunlight. Heatstroke killed at least one outdoor worker in Kuwait.

A Guardian investigation found that hundreds of migrant labourers are worked to death in Qatar each year due to heat stress.

“There’s a serious correlation between heat and the physical and mental health of an individual,” says Mahaa K Raja, a Pakistani doctor based in Saudi Arabia. “The detrimental outcomes can translate into heat exhaustion or something as serious as a heat stroke. Symptoms may range from feeling queasy, minor irritability, dizziness to delusions, irrational behaviour, hallucinations, and coma.”

People with a pre-existing mental illness, particularly psychosis, have a two to three times higher risk of death during heatwaves than people without, according to a report by Imperial College’s Grantham Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

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Ahmed Mohsin, a food delivery rider, says that he has been emotionally distressed trying to take care of his health in Dubai’s current climate while working outdoors, with peak temperatures of 34-37C.

Mohsin is a devout Muslim but he has not been able to fast this year during Ramadan.

“I did first the first three days but I was feeling so dizzy and like I would faint. I wasn’t able to drive,” he says. “And if fasting gets in the way of your health, God orders you to not fast. God is merciful.”

He is in his early 20s and says that the long work hours he has been facing over the past four years as a delivery driver have really impacted his health. “Last summer I fainted a few times and I am also always feeling very tired and get headaches a lot. I haven’t seen a doctor but I know I am not in good health.”

Like the other tens of thousands of migrants workers who have moved to Dubai in recent years to meet the increase in the demand for food deliveries, Mohsin does not get a fixed salary but around $2.60 per delivery.

Migrant construction workers in the UAE (Photo: Rabiya Jaffery)

This is why keeping up with an exorbitant amount of orders daily is essential for him and his family that he is supporting back in Lahore, Pakistan.

Working conditions are expected to become increasingly dangerous for people like Mohsin and Jangid as the region will disproportionally suffer from heat extremes due to climate change.

“The Arab world is a highly sensitive area to climate change and policymakers need to make sure climate is a priority agenda,” says Lina Yassin, a Sudanese climate activist.

A report on the impacts of climate change in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) states that global climate projections suggest a significant intensification of summer heat extremes in the region.

“These events involve excessively high temperatures (up to 56C and higher) and will be of extended duration, being potentially life-threatening for humans,” the report notes.

“By the end of the century, about half of the MENA population (approximately 600 million) could be exposed to annually recurring super- and ultra-extreme heatwaves.”

According to the World Bank, capital cities in the Middle East could face four months of exceedingly hot days every year.

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“The farm I had called home for nearly 30 years was completely submerged, I was in shock and afraid. For two weeks I walked by the roadside speaking to myself,” Yator told Climate Home News. “Questions ran through my mind without answers. How will my children survive? Where do I resettle? It was a difficult time.”

Yator is not the only Kenyan farmer to suffer from severe depression and anxiety. Kenya is facing a mental health crisis, triggered, in part, by climate change. Many sufferers told Climate Home News that losses caused by drought, flooding and other extreme weather contributed to their distress.

According to the World Health Organization, Kenya ranks fourth in Africa for the most number of mental health cases, with 1.9 million people, 4.4% of the population suffering from depression. In June 2020, the government declared a mental health emergency after a recommendation by a task force.

Yator received no psychological support and turned to prayer to cope. Now, a year later, she sustains her family as a fishmonger in Kambi ya Samaki area, along the shores of Lake Baringo. While looking for work, Yator relied on friends and well wishers for financial support.

“When I was at my farm, I had water, firewood all from my farm. Today, I cannot afford to pay my daughter’s university fees – something I did at ease with the farm produce,” she said.

Pauline Yator started working as a fishmonger after she lost her farm to flooding last year. Photo: Sophie Mbugua

Heavy rainfall in 2019 and 2020 amplified the swelling of the lakes in Kenya’s Rift Valley, displacing more than 5,000 people, Samuel Mutai, director of Baringo county’s meteorological department, told Climate Home News.

As a result, 150 households live in tents an abandoned airstrip while thousands of others depend on strangers, relatives, and friends for shelter, he said.

Homes, schools, roads, health centres, and farmlands were submerged. In November 2019 at least 120 people died and 18,000 were displaced by floods and landslides in Kenya, according to the United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

The Baringo county deputy governor Jacob Chepkwony told Climate Home News that 3,087 households were displaced after flooding damaged their homesteads. More than 85 are disabled and older people, and overall damage to housing and shelter is estimated at 1.2 billion Kenyan shillings ($11m), he said.

Africa accounts for only 2–3% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions from energy and industrial sources. Data analysis shows that the one billion people who live in sub-Saharan Africa are responsible for just 0.55% of global emissions.

But despite its tiny contribution to global warming, cyclones, landslides, droughts and floods are becoming more intense and frequent in this region. The western part of the Indian ocean is warming faster than any other part of the tropical ocean while temperatures are rising 1.5 times faster in the Sahel than the global average, said Abubakar Salih Babiker, a climate scientist at the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Center (ICPAC).

Babiker told the Climate Home News that extreme events such as floods, droughts, and landslides are happening faster than the community’s ability to recover from previous natural disasters.

“Over the last 30 years, the minimum temperatures in most parts of East Africa have increased by 1.2C and the maximum by about 2C, higher than the lower target of the Paris Agreement, said Babiker.

Jeremiah Cheptirim, a 76-year-old father of seven, stands in front of his house destroyed by flooding from Lake Baringo, Kenya (Photo: Sophie Mbugua)

Yator is not the only one whose life was turned upside down by natural disasters.

Jeremiah Cheptirim, a 76-year-old father of seven, from Ng’enyin village has been displaced three times since 2018, when his 30-acre farm was entirely submerged. His 71-year-old wife, Targok Bartogos, and five grandchildren have been squatting in a tent at the edge of their neighbour’s land. Bartogos cannot sleep at night.

“It’s too cold at night. Questions run through my mind wondering when we will manage a decent house. The hippopotamus defecates outside the tent every night. I have grandchildren in this tent, what if some day it decided to attack?” said Bartogos.

Over the years, Cheptirim has lost 30 cows, 16 goats, and 24 sheep to pneumonia and crocodiles.

Shadrack Chalo from Garashi village in coastal Kenya supported his six children through farming. His village has experienced drought since 2019, but the river flooded following heavy rains upstream and broke its banks.

“The floods destroyed my farm, carried away the generators, the irrigation pipe, and all other farming equipment I had bought. Due to lost income, I had to transfer my children to public schools.

“The problem was – where do you start? It takes time to plant and wait for the coconut trees and bananas to mature and earn you money. When all these trees die suddenly, the entire farm is destroyed, all cows are dead overnight from floods, and given some of us are old without the energy to start over, stress and death are inevitable for most of the farmers. Stress is our biggest challenge,” Chalo said.

Jeremiah Cheptirim and his wife Targok Bartogos sit outside the tent they have been living in since their house was flooded. Photo: Sophie Mbugua

In December 2019 the Kenyan government established a task force on mental health. Its review found out that of all medical patients at least 25% of outpatients and 40% of inpatients suffer from a mental illness. Climate change is identified as a contributing factor to mental illness, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder.

Kenya is not the only African country with a heavy mental health burden. In Nigeria, Health Think Analytics says 7 million inhabitants suffer from depression. WHO estimates that while 650,000 Ghanaians have a severe mental disorder, a further 2.1 million suffer from a moderate to mild mental illness.

In Ethiopia, a national health survey on depression identified that 9.1% of the population suffers from depression.

“Mental health issues are often forgotten amid the other life-threatening disasters like coronavirus, storms, droughts, and floods,” Boniface Chitayi, a consultant psychiatrist with the ministry of health and president of the Kenyan psychiatrist association, told Climate Home News.

Chitayi said events such as loss of property, loved ones, job loss, and forced migration, tend to cause higher rates of depression, and anxiety.

“Stressful events can trigger most serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia, substance use and abuse as a way of coping with increased stress,” Chitayi said.

The task force on mental health report shows that 75% of Kenyans cannot access mental health care. Kenya has only 71 psychiatrists for almost 50 million people, despite the large number of mental health cases in the country. Nigeria has fewer than 300 psychiatrists for an estimated population of over 200 million.

Elias Fondo, the Kilifi County mental health clinical officer, told Climate Home News that only about 22 out of 47 counties offer mental health services. As a result, access to mental health services is a constraint for most Kenyans who either cannot afford or travel long distances in search of assistance. Fondo said most mental health cases are often misdiagnosed due to lack of specialists.

Sidi Toya from Kilifi County said since the floods, her two children wake up screaming at night. Over the years, their school grades, and ability to respond to the teacher’s questions have worsened.

“Before the flooding, they would sleep soundly uninterrupted at night. We have gone to the hospitals seeking professional help, but the medics say the children are not sick. As parents, we do not know what to do next. We are not able to seek help beyond this village,” said Toya.

Countries like Kenya do not have a separate budget for mental health.

“Mental disorders account for at least 13% of all diseases but its allocation has been 0.1% of the entire budget. Counties in Kenya are not fully sensitised about mental health and their role. As temperatures and mental illnesses rise, Kenya needs a mental health budget that is separate from the overall health budget whose percentage reflects the burden of mental health illness in our country,” said Chitayi.

Cheptirim is planning to relocate his family again. He has identified a piece of land on a safer ground but has no financial means to construct a house. He depends on friends to raise over 300,000 shillings ($3,000) to build the house and relocate.

“I have managed to purchase land in a safer ground, but I have nothing left to build. I have talked to a few friends hoping someone with a soft heart can help with whatever amount they can manage. My only wish is to get my family to safety and warmth,” he said.

This reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists.

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As many as 2.7 million premature births a year – 18% of the global total – can be linked to outdoor air pollution, a study in Environment International found.

When women give birth at less than 37 weeks, their offspring are more likely to die in infancy or suffer from learning difficulties, hearing and sight problems through their life.

“This study highlights that air pollution may not just harm people who are breathing the air directly – it may also seriously affect a baby in its mother’s womb,” said Chris Malley, lead author of the study.

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Previous research, mainly in the US and Europe, has established the level of small particulates – PM2.5 – in the air as one of the factors that affects the preterm birth rate.

For this latest study, researchers took those findings and applied them to 2010 air quality and health data from 183 countries to estimate the global scale of the problem.

Pregnant women in China, India, the Middle East and western Africa were most likely to go into labour early as a result of hazy conditions, they found.

Percentage of total preterm births which were associated with ambient PM2.5 in 2010 using a low concentration cut-off of a) 4.3 μg m− 3, and b) 10 μg m− 3 (Source: Environment International/Preterm birth associated with maternal fine particulate matter exposure)

Since women cannot generally avoid breathing polluted air while pregnant, solutions must go to the source, said co-author Johan Kuylenstierna, policy director at the Stockholm Environment Institute.

“We are trying to support a number of countries to develop strategies to reduce the pollution,” he told Climate Home. “Each region has its own particular sources.”

Many of the policy options to tackle harmful particulates also reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change. For example, replacing old diesel vehicles with cleaner transport or returning agricultural waste to the land instead of burning it.

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The prospect of children suffering from avoidable disabilities may spur action, suggested Kuylenstierna.

“The reason we started this research is: a lot of the reporting on health impacts of small particulate matter has been about premature deaths, from lung cancer, heart disease and so on,” he said.

“Sometimes when we talk to the policymakers in developing countries, it leaves them a little bit cold. How premature is premature? Mainly, it is affecting old people.

“They want to have evidence of a broader range of health impacts, especially on children… Hopefully this further evidence will increase interest in reducing these sources of pollution.”

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The crossover between climate change, air pollution and health is also the subject of a summit in Atlanta, US on Thursday.

Quietly cancelled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after Donald Trump took the presidency, the meeting was resurrected by Al Gore as a symbol of defiance.

Harvard Global Health Institute and the American Public Health Association supported keeping the show on the road, in the face of an administration perceived as hostile to environmental protections.

“Today we face a challenging political climate, but the climate crisis shouldn’t be political,” said Gore, a climate advocate and former US vice president. “It is not only the greatest existential crisis we face: it is also causing a global health emergency, where the stakes are life and death.”

Report: Medical journal the Lancet to launch Planetary Health title

A commentary in Environmental Health Perspectives last week highlighted the health threats to children, in particular, from burning fossil fuels.

“The science is clear that reducing our dependence on fossil fuels would achieve highly significant health and economic benefits for children worldwide, both immediately and well into the future,” said author Frederica Perera, professor at Columbia University, in a statement.

“Knowing this, we have a moral imperative to enact child-centered energy and climate policies to protect this most vulnerable group.”

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The Lancet’s new open access journal, Planetary Health, is expected to amplify support for climate policies that come with health benefits – and avert those that come with unacceptable side effects.

Society has benefitted from exploiting natural resources, said the journal’s editor Raffaella Bosurgi in a podcast. “But we have now gone beyond sustainable limits.”

As well as climate change, the title will look at topics such as water scarcity, air pollution and agricultural productivity.

Expected to release its first issue in the spring, Planetary Health is calling for research papers. It represents the publishers’ most sustained focus on these issues, following a number of special reports.

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Nicholas Watts directs the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, an annual assessment of the key indicators.

“Many of these interventions that are being proposed on climate change, if you put them in front of a doctor or a nurse, they would say: well, we should be doing that anyway for health reasons,” he told Climate Home.

Shutting down coal plants, for example, cuts greenhouse gas emissions and prevents people getting sick or dying from breathing or heart problems. Win-win.

Policies supportive of diesel cars in the EU, on the other hand, trimmed CO2 emissions at the expense of toxic particulates and NOx.

Watts said: “This is something where it was a climate policy put in place that had good intentions but bad health outcomes. I would say the negatives for health outweighed the climate benefits.”

Following revelations the car industry had cheated on emissions tests, politicians are turning against diesel.

Had health professionals been engaged in the debate from the outset, Watts suggested they would have promoted walking and cycling instead of a fuel switch.

Global warming itself brings public health challenges, with tropical diseases like malaria expanding their range and storms or floods triggering sanitation problems.

Pradeep Kurukulasuriya, head of climate change adaptation at the UN Development Programme, welcomed the new publication.

“Addressing climate change risks in an integrated manner with human health is critical,” he said in a statement. “No where is this more apparent than with those living in extreme poverty where it is often impossible to distinguish between development and climate challenges as the two are inextricably linked.”

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Morning commute in New York, February 2014 (Flickr/ Roey Ahram)

By Kieran Cooke

Global warming is unlikely to mean that fewer people in northern latitudes will die from cold during the winter, according to a study by scientists in the US.

Despite arguments that an increase in death rates caused by global warming and increased summertime temperatures will be offset by a matching drop in mortality as winter temperatures also rise, the study cautions against assuming any such link as research suggests otherwise.

The study, carried out over several years, looked at temperature-related seasonal mortality rates, particularly among elder people, in a total of 39 cities – the majority in the US, and three in France.

It concludes: “Our findings suggest that reductions in cold-related mortality rates under a warming climate may be much smaller than some have assumed.”

The research, carried out by a team led by Professor Patrick Kinney, a specialist in public health at the Columbia University Earth Institute in the US, is published in the Environmental Research Letters journal.

Temperature range

“We found that excess winter mortality did not depend on seasonal temperature range and was no lower in warmer vs colder cities, suggesting that temperature is not a key driver of winter excess mortality,” the study says.

Although the researchers acknowledge that seasonal temperature patterns can have an effect on health, many other factors influence mortality rates in winter among elderly people.

Diseases such as influenza – often transmitted when younger generations of families meet up with their elders at family celebrations – play a far greater role in mortality than the cold.

“Most older people who die over the winter don’t die from cold – they die from complications related to ’flu and other respiratory diseases,”  Kinney says.

Most previous studies investigating the links between temperature rises and death rates have focused on the impact of summer heat.

A prolonged heatwave across Europe in 2003 – which many scientists say can be attributed to climate change – is believed to have caused between 30,000 and 50,000 deaths. Elderly people in urban areas – often left stranded in their baking apartment blocks – were particularly badly hit.

A lot of media attention has also been given recently to the high rates of death among migrant workers from Nepal working in high temperatures in Qatar and other countries in the Gulf region.

The Columbia study looked at winter death rates among elderly people in cities in different climate zones and with differing demographics – from Paris and New York to Miami and Marseilles.

Opposite effect

It found that most of the elderly people living in the cities from which data was gathered were not exposed to the winter cold for long periods as the majority had access to a warm indoor environment.

Kinney says that rather than decreasing mortality, warmer winters could have the opposite effect.

“We see mosquito-borne diseases emerging in new territories because warmer winter temperatures enable the insects to over-winter in more northerly regions,” he says.

“Warmer temperatures can also enable an insect-borne virus to replicate inside the insect vector to be transmitted and cause disease in a human or animal.

“Sadly, this research tells us that an increase in summer deaths due to climate change is unlikely to be counteracted by a reduction in winter deaths.”

Produced by the Climate News Network

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Coal power generation hurts health twice: first from air pollution, then from warming climate (Photo: Lundrim Aliu / World Bank)

By Ed King

Coal power represents a threat to human health and needs to be rapidly phased out, a panel of climate, energy and medical experts has found.

Plans for 2,200 new coal fired power plants around the world must be reassessed, says the landmark Lancet Commission report, warning of the climate and air pollution impacts they are likely to cause.

The Commission – which includes 12 scientists from Tsinghua University in Beijing – says allowing dangerous levels of warming to develop will “undermine the last half century of gains in development and global health”.

Likely consequences include the spread of disease, food insecurity, under nutrition, migration and mental ill health, with an additional annual death toll of 250,000 between 2030 and 2050, according to the WHO.

Conversely, the panel says a global push to reduce emissions represents the “greatest global health opportunity” of the century.

Dirty fossils

The release of noxious particulates, heavy metals and impact of mining, along with coal’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions “almost certainly undermines the use of coal as a long­ term fuel,” says the study.

The 50-strong panel acknowledges that coal is still one of the cheapest forms of power, but maintains that cutting its use around cities like Beijing and Delhi would deliver “immediate” health gains and protect cardiovascular and respiratory health.

But the experts, who mainly come from Europe and China, warn against a global dash for gas to replace coal. The growing risk of dangerous climate change means large-scale investment in gas is “increasingly difficult to justify”, they say.

Hugh Montgomery, health expert at UCL, said the evidence uncovered in this study showed that the threat to human health from climate change and fossil fuels had been “grossly underestimated”.

The combination of population growth and migration into cities meant humans were becoming far more vulnerable to climate-related threats like heatwaves or floods, he said.

“Fossil fuels clearly improved the lives of billions around word,” he told RTCC, “but we didn’t know at the time the threat we knew that would be created.

“The truth is we do now understand the threat… and it’s no longer a price we need to pay.”

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Severe air pollution in Henan province, China in 2014 (Flickr/ V.T. Polywoda)

By Megan Darby

The UN health body is calling for energy efficiency and clean energy to tackle air pollution in a “landmark resolution” agreed this week.

Some 3.7 million people die each year from exposure to outdoor air pollution and 4.3 million from indoor pollution, the World Health Organization estimates.

Coal power stations and diesel vehicles are major sources of harmful fumes, as well as being significant drivers of climate change.

The resolution noted: “Promoting energy efficiency and expanding the use of clean and renewable energy can have co-benefits for health and sustainable development.”

Making low carbon energy affordable will “maximize these opportunities,” it added.

Put forward by 14 countries including the US, Germany, Ukraine, Colombia and Zambia, it urged WHO member states to take action.

Air pollution triggers a range of health problems, from asthma to cancer (Pic: Flickr/KristyFaith)

Environmental health campaigners welcomed the initiative.

Génon Jensen, head of the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), said it was a “significant milestone” to prevent breathing problems, heart attacks, strokes and cancer.

As countries aim for a global climate deal in Paris this December, it acts as “a powerful stepping stone for greater health engagement,” she added.

The threat of air pollution resonates in rich and poor countries alike.

In India, it is shaving up to three years of the lifespan of half the population. New Delhi residents are increasingly concerned about toxic smog in the world’s most polluted city.

As Narendra Modi’s government looks to coal to bring power to 300 million people without access, the risks are increasing.

Under the Dome – Investigating China’s smog (English subtitles)

The Chinese government, meanwhile, is curbing coal use in cities in an effort to bring the problem under control.

It faces intense pressure to clean up the skies. Air pollution documentary Under the Dome scored more than 100 million hits before it was banned.

In the European Union, air quality standards are on the whole higher, but still fall short of WHO guidelines.

Member states are required to limit concentrations of fine particulates – PM2.5 – to an annual average of 25 micrograms a cubic metre. The WHO recommends 10 µg/m3.

This pollutant alone is thought to shorten Europeans’ life expectancy by eight months.

A WHO study last month found air pollution costs the EU US$1.6 trillion a year in death and disease, or a tenth of GDP.

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The Climate and Health Alliance warned this “invisible killer” is on the rise in Australia, too.

“Australians are facing declining air quality in our cities and urban areas and increasingly in rural settings,” said CAHA chief Liz Hanna.

“Stronger air quality standards are needed to protect the health of all Australians.”

HEAL “regrets” the resolution stopped short of binding measures, says Jensen.

But it is “the kick -off for greater engagement and resources for health ministers and health authorities to tackle air pollution”.

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London at air pollution “level 5” (Pic: Flickr/David Holt)

By Alex Pashley

Air pollution caused 600,000 premature deaths in 2010 and cost the equivalent of a tenth of the European Union’s 2013 gross domestic product, a World Health Organization study said today.

The research, presented at a health and environment summit in Israel, for the first time ever puts an economic value on its impact on European public health.

“The evidence we have provides decision-makers across the whole of government with a compelling reason to act,” said Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe in a statement.

“If different sectors come together on this, we not only save more lives but also achieve results that are worth astounding amounts of money, ” Jakab added.

Zsuzsanna Jakab: Curbing the health effects of air pollution pays dividends http://t.co/6MRDnIQ0b4 #EHP2015

— WHO/Europe (@WHO_Europe) April 28, 2015

Must-read @WHO_Europe | #AirPollution costs EU economies US$1.6 trillion a year in diseases & deaths http://t.co/APhyckqci2 #RightToCleanAir

— Clean Air in London (@CleanAirLondon) April 28, 2015

Over 90% of citizens in the region’s 53 countries are exposed to levels of outdoor fine particulate matter above WHO’s air quality guidelines.

These accounted for 482,000 early deaths in 2012 from strokes and heart and respiratory diseases. In the same year, indoor air pollution resulted in an extra 117,200 premature deaths, with mortality rates five times higher in low-and middle-income countries than richer states.

The economic value of deaths and disease relates to the amount countries are willing to pay to avoid these deaths and diseases through healthcare.

“Reducing air pollution has become a top political priority,” said Christian Friis Bach at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

Tomorrow in the United Kingdom, where the WHO put the economic cost at $81 billion or 3.7% of GDP, a supreme court will rule on a case brought against the government over the UK missing deadlines to slash nitrogen dioxide rates.

Many of the air pollutants that are damaging to health come from the same sources as greenhouse gas emissions: power plants, heavy industry and road transport.

Increasingly, experts are working together to highlight the joint benefits of action. with the WHO holding its first ever global conference on health and climate change last summer.

US president Barack Obama has played up the health benefits of his curbs on coal power emissions, in a bid to overcome partisan divides on climate change.

And tackling harmful smog is a key motivation for China’s policies to clean up industry and roll out renewable energy.

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Awa sits with her son Modiba and his siblings at their home in Mali. Modiba is suffering from severe malnutrition and malaria. (Pic: Save The Children/Flickr)

By Ed King

The World Health Organisation says billions of dollars are needed over the next two decades to slow the growth of diseases such as leishmaniases, dengue and chagas.

In a report issued on Thursday it says incidences of these potentially fatal ailments – spread by mosquitoes or poor sanitary conditions – could accelerate as a result of climate change.

Officials say US$2.1 billion is required every year from 2015-2030 to prevent and control 17 neglected tropical diseases, which already affect around one billion people in 149 countries.

The additional investment would represent 0.1% of healthcare costs in affected countries over the next 15 years, says the study.

“Some of the neglected tropical diseases are no longer strictly tropical,” said the WHO’s Dirk Engels. “The potential for spread provides yet another strong argument for making the needed investments.”

Neglected tropical diseases – What are they? Why are they ‘neglected’? #BeatNTDs pic.twitter.com/o4NPiyaEvw

— WHO (@WHO) February 19, 2015

Changes in the global temperature, together with rainfall and humidity levels are expected to “increase the distribution and incidence of at least a subset of these diseases”, write the authors.

Heavy rainfall is linked to increases in dengue fever, which causes flu-like symptoms but can be fatal. Every year an estimated 390 million are infected.

The WHO says dengue has already re-emerged in countries where it has been absent for decades, along with related mosquito-borne viruses such as chikungunya and zika.

It says early detection and targeting of these diseases will save money in the long run, citing success in halting the spread of guinea-worm disease through widespread treatment programmes.

“With such huge numbers affected, controlling these diseases paves the way for an exodus from poverty,” WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan said in a statement.

The WHO also says more investment is needed to tackle unsanitary conditions – which can offer prime breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Mixed picture

Last year a UN-backed panel of scientists said rises in malaria and dengue as a result of climate change were not inevitable, provided countries took adequate precautions.

“More effective disease control activities” could slow their spread, they wrote. Effective prevention policies recommended by the UN include widespread pesticide deployment and use of nets at night.

Fatalities linked to insect-carried diseases are highest in Africa and South East Asia, but separate research published this week indicates they could rise in Europe and the US.

Warming temperatures by mid-century could create the right conditions for the Asian Tiger Mosquito to travel north, bringing risks of yellow fever, dengue and encephalitis.

“A significant increase of habitat suitability is projected to occur in eastern Brazil, the eastern United States, Western and Central Europe, and Eastern China, to a large degree related to increasing near-surface temperatures in winter,” write the authors in a paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

“On the other hand, significant reductions are projected for northern South America, Southern Europe, Central Africa, Madagascar and Southeast Asia, where (summer) temperatures can become too high.”

The post WHO warns of climate impact on tropical disease spread appeared first on Climate Home News.

Berlin in a heatwave
(Pic: Frank Neulichedl/Flickr)

By Sophie Yeo

Five times as many people will die of heart disease in Germany by 2098 as climate change causes more intense heatwaves.

This is the finding of a study which the German government has funded as part of their climate adaptation strategy.

The valleys of the Rhine, the Danube and some regions in the East will suffer the most. Specifically, the Upper Rhine valley will experience heatwaves of over 31C each day by the end of the century, the authors found.

They say that research rarely investigates how climate change will impact cause specific deaths.

“Studies investigating the heat-mortality relationship are of major importance to design preventive measures, which are able to minimize the future heat wave risks,” said Stefan Zacharias from the German Meteorological Service, which conducted the research

The results are based on a moderate emissions scenario up to 2098.

Coronary heart disease is responsible for around 17% of all deaths in Germany. Between 2001 and 2010, it killed an average of 403 people on every summer day where temperatures were normal.

This increased by 15.2% during heatwaves, adding up to 331 excess deaths every year.

Climate models suggest that, by the end of the 21^st century, heatwaves in Germany will be three times as frequent, 25% longer, and around 1C hotter.

This combination of factors means that heatwave deaths are expected to rise substantially, the report found.

Between 2069 and 2098, the heat could cause an average of 1,801 excess deaths every year due to heart disease, the authors wrote – 5.1 times the current trend. But the unpredictability of climate models mean the actual figure could be up to ten times higher than it is today.

People may get used to the heat, which would lower the death rate – although most studies say that the rate of acclimatisation will be less than 50%, said Zacharias. If heat tolerance is increased by half, the number of excess deaths will be reduced to around 835 a year.

The impact of heatwaves is likely to be similar across the rest of Europe – and potentially even worse in certain regions.

“Since the future increase in heat wave frequency and duration is projected to be higher in Western and Southern Europe than in Central Europe, future heat-related mortality could be even higher in the former regions,” says Zacharias.

In the summer of 2003, a particularly extreme heatwave killed more than 80,000 people across Europe.

There are ways the German government can respond to the threat, Zacharias added.

These include heat health warning systems, action plans, adaptation strategies and enhanced air conditioning.

But he warned that the solution must not contribute to the problem: “Since a widespread use of A/C consumes loads of electricity and therefore may deteriorate climate change (if not generated as renewable energy), this topic is discussed controversially,” he said.

The post German heart disease deaths from heatwaves to rise fivefold appeared first on Climate Home News.

Climate change raises the risk of crop failure and malnutrition, among other health concerns
(Pic: UNAMID)

By Megan Darby

A leading medical journal has added its voice to calls for climate change to be declared a health emergency.

The British Medical Journal, which has an international reach, last month published its first article purely on climate science.

The editor, Fiona Godlee, said doctors needed to know the facts to become effective advocates on climate change.

She urged the World Health Organization (WHO) to announce a global public health emergency in light of the threats posed by rising temperatures.

While such threats may seem less pressing than the deadly Ebola virus outbreak in west Africa, Godlee argued they were more significant in the long run.

“Deaths from Ebola infection, tragic and frightening though they are, will pale into insignificance when compared with the mayhem we can expect for our children and grandchildren if the world does nothing to check its carbon emissions. And action is needed now,” she wrote in an editorial.

The BMJ stance follows the same lines as an open letter from fifteen charities in August.

On the back of the WHO’s first ever international conference on climate change and health, they said it was time to confront the issue.

Climate change has been linked to a range of health risks, from malaria spreading to malnutrition.

As well as advocating for policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the charities said medical organisations could cut their own carbon footprints and divest from fossil fuels.

At that conference, WHO director general Margaret Chan said: “The evidence is overwhelming: climate change endangers human health…

“Solutions exist and we need to act decisively to change this trajectory.”

UN climate chief Christiana Figueres added: “Climate change is not the equivalent of a disease: it is a symptom. The cause is our unbridled dependence on fossil fuels.”

She encouraged doctors to lobby their governments for stronger action.

Earlier the same month, 12 Australian medical scientists had done just that. They published an open letter asking prime minister Tony Abbott to put climate change on the agenda at the next G20 summit in Brisbane.

One of the signatories, Tony McMichael, said they wanted to spread awareness that climate change “poses risks to much more than the economic status quo”.

The post WHO should declare climate change a “health emergency” appeared first on Climate Home News.

An apple a day keeps delegates at the WHO conference happy
(Pic: twitter/HCWH Europe)

By Megan Darby 

Charities are calling on the health sector to divest from fossil fuels and declare climate change a public health emergency.

On the back of the WHO’s first ever global climate and health conference this week, fifteen organisations have signed a letter urging the financial shift.

Just as health organisations withdrew finance from tobacco companies, the letter argues they should avoid investing in coal, oil and gas.

Climate change and air pollution from burning fossil fuels have been linked to a range of public health problems, from dengue fever to depression.

See below for the letter in full.

We congratulate the World Health Organization on their vision and leadership in convening this week’s Health and Climate Summit, an historic event which has brought together policy makers, health professionals, academics and civil society representatives from around the world.

Climate change poses an urgent threat to human health, and the impacts are already being felt around the world. Without transformative system change, they will become dramatically worse, particularly in the poorest regions – which have contributed least to the causes of climate change.

The health sector everywhere needs to play a central role in addressing climate change—the greatest health threat of the 21st century. We must reduce healthcare’s climate footprint, make our health systems more resilient, and most importantly advocate for a fundamental shift in energy, transport and agriculture policies. Our task is to end our dependency on fossil fuels, a move that can help tackle both climate change and the rise in non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, stroke, and asthma.

As Christiana Figueres, Chair of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said during this meeting, “climate change is not the equivalent of a disease: it is a symptom. The cause is our unbridled dependence on fossil fuels”. We know that we cannot safely burn the majority of the world’s proven fossil fuel reserves; if we do, the health impacts will be immense. A transition to renewable energy both reduces greenhouse gas emissions and offers substantial short-term health benefits, saving billions of dollars in healthcare costs, particularly by reducing air pollution.

Just as the health sector has divested from tobacco, it now needs to act on this even greater threat. We consider the transfer of financial resources away from fossil fuels and towards clean, healthy, renewable energy through a “divest-invest” framework to be one of the most important steps we need to take. This entails the phasing out of investments in, and subsidies for, fossil fuels, which harm health, alongside a dramatic increase in investment in healthy and sustainablealternatives. The health sector can make an important contribution to this profound shift.

The health sector – the WHO, health ministries, local authorities, health care providers, professional bodies, and non-governmental organizations – must mobilize to lead the transformation to a low-carbon, healthy and climate-resilient society. We call on all health leaders to:

• Declare climate change a global public health emergency, and take urgent measures to address it.
• Advocate for all governments to adopt an international climate agreement in 2015 which is both fair and sufficiently ambitious to protect health, and for developed countries to fulfill their obligations under the UNFCCC to provide the most vulnerable countries with the resources to respond to climate change.
• Lead by example, making sustainability core business for the health sector, including by implementing low-carbon healthcare and public health policies.
• Support broad, transformative societal change to transition from fossil fuels to clean, renewable healthy energy through a divest-invest approach, and by ending subsidies for fossil fuels.

In the words of WHO Director General, Dr. Margaret Chan, “climate change is the defining issue of the 21st Century.” As representatives of the health sector, we share a responsibility to confront this, the greatest health threat we face, and to transform it into a health opportunity for all.

Signatory organisations, present at the WHO Conference on Health and Climate:

Global Climate and Health Alliance

Arnhold Global Health Institute of Mount Sinai, New York USA

Centre for Frugal Medical Technology? for Developing Countries

Climate and Health Alliance, Australia

Climate and Health Council, UK

Health and Environment Alliance

Health Care Without Harm

H-Earth – Health-EARTH

Healthy Planet UK

International Federation of Medical Students’ Association (IFMSA)

OraTaiao, New Zealand’s Climate and Health Council

Public Health Institute

Sustainable Development Unit for the NHS, Public Health and Social Care in England

The Mobilizing Action Toward Climate Change and Health (MATCCH) Initiative

US Climate and Health Alliance 

The post Declare climate change health emergency, say charities appeared first on Climate Home News.

A climate-smart health system does not build hospitals in flood risk areas
(Pic: Flickr/srv007)

By Joy Shumake-Guillemot

There is a common thread between weather and climate and some of the most fundamental determinants of human health.

Millions of people each year are affected by extreme weather events such as heat and cold waves, tropical cyclones, floods, and droughts. These can damage or destroy health facilities and water and sanitation infrastructure.

Even more are impacted by under-nutrition resulting from food insecurity, respiratory diseases from poor air quality, water-borne and vector-borne diseases.

Climate change is intensifying – and complicating – these relationships. It makes the need for preventive action against climate-related health risks an urgent matter.

Challenges

Taking action requires global and local health communities to understand the weather and climate affecting them. They must be able to factor this knowledge in to daily and long term decisions in public health.

It has long been a challenge for the health community to access the information needed for research or early warning systems. There has also been a gap in the skills to understand and apply climate information in a meaningful way.

Likewise, the meteorological community in the past has not fully appreciated the concerns and needs of the public health community, or the potential applications that exist for their science. There has been little dialogue between the two sectors.

Earlier this year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change updated the evidence on the health risks of climate change.

It drew serious conclusions on some of today’s most significant health risks such as air pollution, malnutrition and diarrheal diseases.

Some scenarios showed warming of more than 4C. This would cross some critical thresholds and threaten human health and sustainable development.

The Ban Ki-Moon climate talks in New York next month will be a crucial test of political commitment to avoid this worst-case scenario.

Even a 2C rise is expected to increase risks of major killers such as extreme weather, diarrhoeal diseases and malnutrition.

Areas with high vulnerability and weak health infrastructure – mostly in low and middle-income countries – will be the least able to cope. They will need help to prepare and respond to a changing climate.

In all countries, these changes hit children and the poor hardest. It is imperative we start to become smarter and more proactive about managing these issues.

Collaboration

To try to bridge the divide, the World Health Organization and the World Meteorological Organization recently set up a new climate and health office. This comes under the auspices of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) and aims to promote the coordinated development and application of user-driven climate services.

The health community needs to access, understand, and apply available climate information products. It must interpret regional climate predictions, hazard warnings and seasonal outlooks.

Meteorologists and climatologists should be aware of the health risks so they can provide the right information.

Now that the WMO Secretariat has a focal point for liaison with WHO and other health partners, it will be easier to combine our expertise. In this way, we can maximise the benefits from advances in climate and health science.

The health community welcomed our announcement of the new office. Expectations are high, as is the potential to better use climate science to solve pressing health problems.

Climate services are about people coming together to solve real-time problems.

When it comes to health, this means making sure hospitals are not built in flood zones. It means alerts when air pollution or heat reach dangerous levels. It means preparing for droughts and the attendant risks of food security.

Such services need to be part and parcel of a climate-smart health system.

New era

The WHO-WMO joint office is a historic step toward closer collaboration. It will provide support in four main areas:

1) Make sure meteorological services have a voice in international health policy fora, while giving strategic policy direction to WMO and GFCS to understand and respond to the needs of the health sector.

2) Provide coordination, resource mobilisation, and technical support to demonstration projects and research. The first climate services adaptation programmes have started in Malawi and Tanzania.

3) Strengthen coordination between WHO and WMO, and with the wider community of practice for climate service action for health.

4) Develop awareness-raising and technical guidance materials. This follows joint work between WHO and WMO on The Atlas of Health and Climate in 2012 and the 2014 guidance on developing heat-health early warning systems.

Learning to use climate and weather knowledge to manage health risks can not only help save lives today. It is part of learning to adapt to climate extremes and a different climate future.

Joy Shumake-Guillemot PhD heads up the WHO/WMO Climate and Health Office 

The post Why health and climate experts must work together appeared first on Climate Home News.

Beijing smog – air pollution was behind one in eight deaths worldwide in 2012
(Pic: Mckay savage)

By Megan Darby

Leading health experts are urging stronger action on climate change, as the first ever global conference to link the two fields kicks off in Geneva.

Bringing together meteorologists, diplomats and medics – not to mention the Prince of Wales – the gathering will highlight health threats from climate change, and joint solutions.

The World Health Organization (WHO), hosting the three-day conference, said green energy and transport policies could save millions of lives each year, by cutting air pollution.

It also called for initiatives to help communities prepare for heat, extreme weather, infectious diseases and food insecurity caused by climate change.

“The evidence is overwhelming: climate change endangers human health,” said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO director general.

“Solutions exist and we need to act decisively to change this trajectory.”

Momentum

The rallying cry builds momentum for action ahead of a climate summit to be hosted by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon next month.

At that summit, world leaders will be invited to make commitments to climate action. The idea is to engage heads of state with the issue before a global treaty is signed in Paris, December 2015.

Christiana Figueres, the UN’s climate chief, encouraged delegates to push for a strong agreement.

This will “chart a course towards a world with clean air and water, abundant natural resources and happy, health populations,” she said.

“Seen in this light, the climate agreement is actually a public health agreement.”

Figueres even suggested Chan treat climate change as a public health emergency.

The conference heard from Michel Jarraud, head of the World Meteorological Organization, and Jim Yong Kim of the World Bank.

The UK’s Prince Charles also lent his support in a video address.

Prince Charles: ‘Climate change is the greatest threat to public health of the 21st century’ #healthandclimate pic.twitter.com/c0RAd1Ghz1

— Marta (@MartaSeoaneA) August 27, 2014

Climate change is already responsible for tens of thousands of extra deaths each year, according to WHO data.

As temperatures rise, mosquitoes carrying malaria and other diseases are spreading into new areas.

Shifting weather patterns are hitting crop yields in some regions, triggering malnutrition.

And extreme events such as heat waves and floods cause health problems both directly and indirectly, by degrading water supplies.

Delegation of children at the #healthandclimate @WHO conference pic.twitter.com/4OVq9vofPh

— Yassen Tcholakov (@yassentch) August 27, 2014

Children and the poor are bearing the greatest burden of climate-related diseases, warned Dr Flavia Bustreo, WHO assistant director general of family, women’s and children’s health.

“Without effective action to mitigate and adapt to the adverse effects of climate change on health, society will face one of its most serious health challenges,” said Bustreo.

Healthcare concerns can be a driver for climate action, in particular when it comes to air pollution.

Emissions from burning fossil fuels for transport and energy not only cause climate change, but are a major cause of respiratory and cardiovascular disease.

US president Barack Obama highlighted the health benefits of his drive to curb coal emissions.

Similarly, smog problems in Chinese cities have prompted the authorities to limit the rise of coal power.

In 2012, the WHO estimates air pollution killed 7 million people, or one in eight deaths worldwide.

Dr Maria Neira, WHO director of public health, said: “There is now solid evidence that mitigating climate change can greatly reduce this toll.”

The post WHO urges action on climate change to protect health appeared first on Climate Home News.

Australia will feel the health impacts of climate change, warns population health professor (Joan Campderros/Flickr)

By Tony McMichael

Australia’s recent repeal of the “toxic carbon tax” may create more, not less, toxicity for Tony Abbott’s government.

The repeal has provoked both national and international dismay. Many foreign governments and major agencies, concerned about where human actions are taking this planet’s future, have been openly critical.

Against this background it is not surprising Australia, as host for the November G20 meeting, has kept discussion of man-made climate change off what is primarily a growth-trade-and-prosperity agenda. The irony is that climate change, unabated, will do growing damage to national economies in the near and continuing future.

It will also do increasing damage to human health, longevity and physical safety around the world. At first, this will mainly hit poorer and disadvantaged populations, but in future, everyone will feel the effects. Australia is almost certainly experiencing the turbo-charging of floods, cyclones (on the Queensland coast), bushfires and heatwaves by a warmer, more energetic, global climate system.

The confluence of a blinkered G20 agenda with growing awareness among Australia’s health researchers and practitioners that climate change jeopardises health and social wellbeing, lay behind our recent decision to publish an open letter to prime minister Abbott.

As lead signatory of the letter my motivation was two-fold. First, this was a timely opportunity to spread awareness of the fact climate change poses risks to much more than the economic status quo. It does not just affect carbon-polluting industries, farm exports, physical infrastructure, property and ski-fields. Both physical and mental health are at risk.

Second, my own long-running research in this area and participation in the IPCC process has been sustained by the belief that public awareness of the full spectrum of risks – especially risks to our own health and physical safety – will foster greater willingness to act. I hope that turns out to be so.

Meanwhile, the ongoing churn of adversarial ‘discourse’ shows some deeper connections to the recurring rhythms of both nature and human history. Two things come immediately to mind. One spans several million years; the other, more directly relevant to the ‘toxic tax’ dispute, spans a half-century.

From around 2.5 million years ago, as Earth’s post-dinosaur cooling continued, occurred over a million years of hectic climatic swings. These were caused by cyclical changes in the planet’s axial tilt and its orbital shape. The resulting survival pressures on our Homo predecessors to find food, shelter, warmth and safety, influenced the evolution of human bodies, brains and behaviours.

Now the tables are turned. Humans are influencing the shaping and behaviour of the world’s climate. The shaper has become the shaped. Our capacity to do this is, ironically, a product of the complex, flexible and creative brain imbued by those long-past climate changes.

The second, more recent, example is directly relevant to Australia’s selfish current policy – a policy that underscores how a society’s culture and its power-brokers resist the ideas and intrusion of science if they threaten vested interests and ideologies. For the moment Australian society is shackled by an overt government-led disdain for the role of science.

Now step back a half-century. In 1962 American biologist Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book on the harm caused by long-lasting industrial and agricultural organic chemicals such as DDT. These chemicals were diffusing through the environment, climbing ‘up’ the food chains and poisoning species, she warned. Humans, who dine at nature’s high table, were also at risk of ingesting toxic chemicals. The vitality of many ecosystems was threatened.

The reaction from leaders of US industry, the military and government was hostile. Carson was vilified; ecology was damned as a ‘subversive science’; the evidence was deemed flawed, ideologically motivated and a threat to the economy, military technologies and corporate profits.

Fast-forward to contemporary Australia and you find a similar chorus of criticism, rejection and Murdoch media mockery. Human-driven climate change and the stop-the-emissions advocacy is portrayed as a threat to the economy, profitability and our dig-it-up resource-dependent prosperity. Any climate action taken, says prime minister Abbott, “must not clobber the economy”.

Interviewed recently on ABC Television Lateline, Lord Deben, a previous Tory environment minister and chair of the UK Committee on Climate Change, described our national stance succinctly. Australia, he said, “is actually going backwards.” He noted that we now have “miserable targets” and that there is widespread judgement that the government’s opaque program of direct action cannot deliver.

The good Lord further remarked that Tony Abbott had told him that abating climate change was not really very important, and hence was not a priority. Our recent open letter argued exactly the opposite.

Tony McMichael is professor emeritus of population health at the Australian National University, Canberra. He has had long experience in national and international assessments of climate change risks to human health.

The post Why Australia PM Tony Abbott’s climate policy is toxic appeared first on Climate Home News.

A factory makes mosquito nets, which protect people from malaria
(Pic: Gates Foundation)

By Megan Darby

The things we need to be healthy – food, water, shelter and fresh air – are all affected by climate change.

And while global warming may mean fewer cold-related deaths in some parts of the world, it is also set to spread exotic diseases to new areas.

A major study in the Lancet described climate change as “the biggest global health threat of the 21st century”.

The World Health Organization is hosting a global conference on the links between climate change and health later this week.

In the first of a series of articles on health, RTCC looks at some of the ways our changing climate is hurting health.

1. Rise of the bloodsuckers

Climate change can alter the breeding seasons and geographical range of mosquitoes, ticks and even snails that carry diseases.

Malaria, spread by mosquito bites, kills around 1 million people a year, mainly under-5s in Africa. Economic development and health initiatives have helped reduce the number of people infected.

But researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have warned rising temperatures could push the disease into mountainous areas, where people do not have protective immunity.

A pregnant woman with malaria is nursed by relatives
(Pic: Flickr/hdptcar)

Dengue fever, the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne virus, is also getting into new territory. According to the IPCC, infections have risen 30-fold in the last half century to 390 million a year and another 2 billion could be exposed by 2080.

A study from the University of East Anglia last week found the disease, which causes fever, headaches, muscle and joint pain, could become established in southern Europe.

Tick-borne encephalitis, chikungunya fever and plague – yes, plague – are also sensitive to climate. And schistosomiasis, a disease carried by snails, is expected to spread to a larger area of China.

2. Air pollution and allergens

Air pollution is responsible for one death in eight worldwide, the WHO estimates. It killed 7 million people in 2012.

Maria Neira, WHO director of public health, said: “Few risks have a greater impact on global health today than air pollution; the evidence signals the need for concerted action to clean up the air we all breathe.”

Climate change is set to spark more wildfires, which cause acute air pollution.

Meanwhile, warmer conditions lead to the release of air-borne allergens that trigger asthma and other conditions such as rhinitis, conjunctivitis and dermatitis.

Some 300 million people worldwide suffer from asthma, which in severe conditions can kill as the body struggles to get oxygen.

3. Heatstroke

On hot days, more people die. These can be young people getting heatstroke from over-exertion or the elderly and chronically ill.

When body temperature rises above 38C, it puts a strain on the heart, lungs and kidneys.

High temperatures also raise levels of ozone and other pollutants, which are damaging to health.

And trying to avoid heatstroke can hit productivity, as farmers and construction workers need to take longer breaks.

4. Depression

With climate change, extreme weather such as drought, flood and hurricane is set to become more common.

Such events can put a strain on the mental health of survivors. They may have lost loved ones and property or had to leave their homes.

Symptoms of anxiety and depression are two to five times more prevalent among people who have experienced flooding in their home than the general population.

After Hurricane Katrina in the US, signs of mental illness related to the disaster were still seen two years later.

Natural disasters can take a toll on mental health
(Pic:Flickr/Max Boschini)

5. Malnutrition

Rising temperatures and changing weather patterns will hit food production in much of the world while populations grow.

In some African countries, yields of staple food crops are expected to fall as much as 50% by 2020.

This will exacerbate malnutrition, which already kills 3.5 million people a year.

According to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) 25 million more children will be malnourished in 2050 due to the effects of climate change.

“The impact of climate change on access to food is huge,” according to Natasha Adams of UNICEF.

A nurse measures a malnourished child in Darfur
(Pic: UNAMID)

6. Skin cancer

Man-made gases first caused a hole in the ozone layer, which lets through more UV radiation and increases the risk of skin cancer.

While a global treaty has cracked down on the ozone-depleting substances, Harvard researchers have found climate change may worsen the ozone problem.

“If you were to ask me where this fits into the spectrum of things I worry about, right now it’s at the top of the list,” said lead author James Anderson.

7. Smallpox?

There have been suggestions that thawing graveyards in the Siberian tundra could bring back smallpox, a virulent disease that was officially eradicated in 1980.

The virus could be transmitted from the frozen corpses of smallpox victims, under this nightmare scenario.

Kevin Brown, lead clinical virologist for Public Health England reassured MailOnline: “Although short lengths of smallpox viral DNA has been detected in corpses in the permafrost in Siberia and other preserved historical artefacts, no infectious virus has ever been obtained from archaeological remains. 

“There is no evidence that previously frozen corpses in the permafrost are a potential source of infectious smallpox virus.”

The post 6 ways climate change threatens health – and one way it probably doesn’t appeared first on Climate Home News.

Layers of smog hanging over Los Angeles, one of the USA’s most polluted cities (Pic: Robert S Donovan/Flickr)

By Gerard Wynn

US President Barack Obama’s administration has appealed to the expected health benefits from cutting carbon emissions, as it tries to win the climate argument against Republicans in a polarised Congress.

Obama failed to gain support in the Senate in 2009 for a proposed climate bill, losing the battle on fears over higher energy prices in the midst of a severe financial crisis.

This time he is attempting to regulate carbon emissions through federal action, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), by-passing Congress.

He has appealed to the expected local benefits to American’s health, keen to head off a voter backlash at mid-term elections in November.

Analysts have attributed US popular support for a ban on ozone depleting chemicals to the dangers of skin cancer.

The White House released last week a report, “The Health Impacts of Climate Change on Americans”, just five days after the EPA’s proposed ruling on carbon emissions, and said that there were visible health impacts from climate change already.

“The past three decades, the percentage of Americans with asthma has more than doubled, and climate change is putting those Americans at greater risk of landing in the hospital,” the report said.

“And extreme weather events are becoming more frequent across the country – from more rain falling in downpours in many regions, to longer and hotter heat waves in others, to more severe droughts and wildfires in some areas, notably the West and Southwest. Through commonsense measures to cut carbon pollution we can protect the health of our Nation, while stimulating the economy and helping to prevent the worst impacts of climate change.”

New ruling

The EPA’s Clean Power Plan proposed to cut carbon pollution from the power sector by 30% by 2030, compared with 2005 levels.

The EPA itself was quick to reference health benefits from taking climate action, mentioning the word “health” five times in a one-page primer on its “Climate Action Plan”.

“The science shows that climate change is already posing risks to our health and our economy. The Clean Power Plan will maintain an affordable, reliable energy system, while cutting pollution and protecting our health and environment now and for future generations.”

“The Clean Power Plan will lead to climate and health benefits worth an estimated $55 billion to $93 billion in 2030, including avoiding 2,700 to 6,600 premature deaths and 140,000 to 150,000 asthma attacks in children.”

Clear benefits

Climate and health scientists see two health benefits from tackling climate change.

First, climate change itself is expected to have a wide range of impacts, including heat stress more frequent and intense heat waves.

“From 1999 through 2009, extreme heat exposure caused more than 7,800 deaths in the United States,” the White House report said.

“Extreme heat events are increasing in the United States in frequency, intensity, and duration. As climate change causes temperatures to continue to rise, heat waves are expected to become more frequent and severe in the coming decade.”

Other direct climate health risks include: more ozone pollution in cities as a result of higher temperatures; dangerous smoke from more frequent wildfires; more pollen from longer growing seasons exacerbating hay fever; more physical accidents and psychological stress from more storms and floods; and the spread of diseases and their vectors such as ticks and mosquitoes.

Secondly, curbing carbon emissions may spawn additional health benefits, called co-benefits, by burning fewer fossil fuels.

Burning oil, gas and coal produce or contribute to local pollutants including mercury, smoke, sulphur dioxide and ozone, which cause respiratory and other problems.

“Since air pollution from power plants can worsen asthma and other breathing problems, putting these (EPA) guidelines in place will help protect the health of vulnerable Americans, including children and the elderly,” the White House report said.

Last month, Harvard University released a report which examined specifically the expected US health co-benefits from cutting carbon emissions, and in particular for improved air quality.

“Carbon pollution standards that reduce CO2 emissions from existing power plants can also cut emissions of other power plant pollutants that have negative human and environmental health impacts locally and regionally,” the Harvard report concluded.

“For human health, these co-pollutants contribute to increased risk of premature death, heart attacks, increased incidence and severity of asthma, and other health effects.

“For ecosystems, these co-pollutants contribute to acid rain; the over-fertilization of many types of ecosystems, including grasslands, forests, lakes and coastal waters; ozone damage to trees and crops; and the accumulation of toxic mercury in fish. Therefore, policies intended to address climate change by reducing CO2 emissions … can have important human and environmental health co-benefits.”

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The informal settlements in urban areas are the worst hit by climate change, due to poor infrastructure

By Sophie Yeo

The impacts of climate change are a daily reality for 8 out of ten Filipinos, according to a recent survey of 1,800 adults across the country.

In the World Bank commissioned survey, 85% of those questioned said that they were personally feeling the effects of climate change, which are particularly pronounced across South East Asia.

The Philippines are the third most vulnerable country in the world to extreme weather events, such as typhoons, floods, landslides and droughts.

Last December, for instance, Typhoon Bopha swept across the country, killing thousands, and official trends monitored by the government in the Philippines show that the rainy season has become wetter while the dry season has become drier.

Secretary Lucille Sering, the Vice Chairperson of the Climate Change Commission in the Philippines said, “In the last several years, the country has suffered extreme weather events including long dry spells, heavy rains as well as strong typhoons and floods like those caused by Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng.

These problems are aggravated by harmful practices that have led to the destruction of the forests, mangroves and corals, and the deterioration of the environment in general.

“Even some areas in Mindanao that we used to consider as ‘typhoon-free’ have recently been hit by very strong typhoons, floods and landslides.”

The effects are not limited to weather. According to the survey, climate change was also blamed for poor health, with many blaming the changes for dry skin, malaria and respiratory diseases.

Understanding impacts

There is a considerable disconnect between the number of people who say they are feeling the effects of climate change, and those who understand the impacts it could have in the future. 14% of Filipinos said they knew “almost nothing or nothing” about the expected impacts of climate change, while 38% said they knew “only a little”.

Yet, according to a global report released last month by the World Bank, climate impacts are on course to worsen over the coming decades. In particular, it highlighted that informal settlements, accounting for 45% of the urban population, will be particularly vulnerable to floods due to a poor infrastructure. Agricultural productivity in rural areas will diminish.

Yeb Sano, the Climate Change Commissioner in the Philippines, said that this lack of knowledge comes down to the complexity of the issue.

“Some people might know climate change in terms of mitigation or emissions, some people might know it limited to its impacts and some people might know it based on science,” he told RTCC.

“The survey shows 12% will have extensive understanding – that number probably represents people who know climate change in its whole spectrum.

“Climate change is basically so complex as a challenge that it would be really understandable if the population has a very small percentage of people who comprehend the concept altogether.”

Urban vs rural

Residents of urban areas feel the effects of climate change more strongly than their rural counterparts – 90% in the former compared to 79% in the latter. Understanding of the impacts of climate change is correspondingly higher in urban areas, with 52% saying they have at least a partial but sufficient knowledge, compared to 42% in rural areas.

“Extreme events when they happen do hit urban areas even more profoundly in general than the countryside, because of other factors that aggravate the climate challenge, including poor planning, misguided develop, environmental abuse and just the sheer volume of people who reside in urban centres,” explained Sano.

Those living in rural and coastal communities face threats to their livelihoods. The increasing acidification of the ocean across the whole of South East Asia will place enormous stress on coral reefs by 2050, damaging marine fisheries and tourism. Sano says that anecdotal evidence from farmers suggests that they are confused about when to plant and harvest, due to the rains coming in late.

“Many of the country’s poor derive income from agriculture, fishery and natural resources that are vulnerable to climate change,” says Motoo Konishi, the World Bank Country Director for the Philippines.

“Many of them live in danger zones such as waterways, areas that are low lying and flood prone, critical slopes as well as coastal zones, making them vulnerable to sea level rise and extreme weather events like strong typhoons and floods,”

In spite of this, efforts to reform climate change policy are limited in their effectiveness because they are only partially aligned with development plans, according to a recent review of the climate change situation in the Philippines by the World Bank. It suggests that the national, sectoral and local development plans do not fully cohere with the National Climate Change Action Plan.

Sano says, “We have 130 plus cities here and 1,500 municipalities. A national level of government agency like the Commission cannot practically cater directly, assisting all these local government units, so we need champions and we need communities that can serve as models.

“We are making a lot of headway there and the results are very promising. It’s not just on risk assessment. Now they are translating that into actions that they would include as part of their comprehensive development plan.

“It’s about answering the question on what kind of development they want, what matters most to them.”

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By Jonny Elliot

The issue of climate-induced migration, and its impacts on human health and wellbeing, is often underplayed in discussions about climate change.

But the ramifications of failing to prepare with increased levels of migrants at an international level will be huge.

The health problems associated with climate-related migration also pose a major challenge for existing healthcare systems and the international humanitarian response.

According to the International Organisation for Migration and United Nations figures, between 200 million and 1 billion people could be forced to leave their homes between 2010 and 2050 as the effects of climate change worsen, potentially inundating current response strategies.

More to the point, climate change migration is already happening across the world – right now.

Migrants at the Libya-Tunisia border. The Arab Spring was in part a reaction to climate induced resource shortages (Source: UN Photo/OCHA/David Ohana )

Some are migrating because of the direct impacts of natural disasters like floods, droughts and acute water shortages, which have been particularly severe in Africa and small island states.

Equally or perhaps more importantly in the longer term are indirect impacts such as conflict and increases in food prices, which can also contribute to people’s decision to leave their homes.

There is no doubt that forced migration due to climate change will increase the pressure on existing infrastructure and urban services, especially in sanitation, education and social sectors and also consequently increase the risk of conflict over access to scarce resources, even among migrants.

A study released in November 2012, Where the rain falls: climate change, food and livelihood security, and migration, reveals a much more nuanced relationship between projected climate variability and migration, which could provide key insights into likely drivers of migration in the coming years.

The study, carried out by Care International and the UN University, in eight countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, revealed that in nearly all instances in which rains have become too scarce for farming, people have migrated, but mostly within national borders.

At a side event at the Doha climate talks, one of the authors, Dr Koko Warner, head of environmental migration at the UN University, remarked: “Those resilient households use migration to reduce their exposure to climatic variability [and] to invest in even more livelihood diversification, education, health and other activities that put them on a positive path to development.”

RTCC Video:William Lacy Swing, Director General, International Organisation of Migration calls for more attenion on migration at UN climate talks

However, there are also much starker consequences for more vulnerable households.

Households may migrate in an attempt to manage risk but suffer worse outcomes. They are often found in countries with less food security and fewer options to diversify their incomes. They move within their countries seasonally to find work, often as agricultural labourers.

The study also described how migration could be an ‘erosive coping strategy’; as a matter of human security when few other options exist. These households are found in areas where food is even scarcer. They often move during the unpredictable dry season to other rural areas in their regions in search of food or work.

Lastly, the study found “households that are trapped and cannot move, and are really at the very margins of existence”. These households do not have the capacity to migrate.

Whose problem?

Health policy making in the context of migration can either been seen as a human rights issue, putting the needs of the individual first, or as a security issue, in terms of its threats to public health (communicable disease control for example) and social stability.

The latter approach relies principally on monitoring, surveillance and screening, and could be argued to be the modern-day cousin of centuries-old quarantine measures, without an individual-focused perspective.

The human-rights based approach takes into account nuances and special needs of individuals, as well as the social determinants that may have affected individuals’ health along the migratory pathway.

With respect to the UNFCCC process, the response to environmental migration is an area that is particularly underdeveloped.

The negotiating text elaborated at Tianjin in 2010 invited Parties to enhance adaptation action under the Adaptation Framework through: measures to enhance understanding, coordination and cooperation related to national, regional and international climate change induced displacement, migration and planned relocation, where appropriate.

The Cancun agreement at the UN climate talks in 2010 took some strides forward and laid out a roadmap for progress with reference to migration, but as yet it hasn’t been implemented, and highlights the need for better and more equitable policy at a global level.

Migration law specialist Jane McAdam observes: “Finally – and perhaps most significantly – there seems to be little political appetite for a new international agreement on protection. As one official in Bangladesh pessimistically observed, ‘this is a globe for a rich man’.”

In Migration and Climate Change, a recent publication by UNESCO, Stephen Castles, Associate Director of the International Migration Institute at the University of Oxford suggests that we may need to re-think our strategy.

“The doomsday prophesies of environmentalists may have done more to stigmatize refugees and migrants and to support repressive state measures against them, than to raise environmental awareness,” said Castles.

We should be doing more, much more, to understand and to raise awareness of climate-induced migration, and we must start preparing to cope more effectively with the health risks associated with it. Now.

Jonny Elliot is a member of Healthy Planet UK

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The Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) says the pollutants from burning coal cost the EU €43 billion a year.

The elderly and the young are at particular risk, with lung damage sustained in childhood reducing the chances of achieving maximum lung function in adult life. The pollution also increase the risk of blood clots and strokes.

Significantly, it has found that the effects of the pollution which coal incineration causes are not confined to people living close to power stations, but can affect entire populations in varying degrees.

“Addressing air pollution from coal power plants alone has the potential to yield significant savings to health budgets, especially given that an average coal power plant operates for at least forty years,” said Prof Jean-Paul Sculier, Secretary for European Affairs, European Respiratory Society (ERS).

“As 2013 is the European Year of Air where a review of EU air quality policy will take place, this is the right time to act.”

(Source: HEAL)

The EU has a number of air pollution regulations as well as targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 20% by 2020.

HEAL’s report, The unpaid health bill: How coal power plants make us sick, suggests that shutting coal power plants could make a contribution to both these goals.

“The EU has committed to protect public health from air pollution as well as from climate change impacts,” said Dr Peter Liese, a German MEP.

“As the use of coal in Europe is currently increasing, there is a significant threat to people’s health in the short and long term.”

Rising gas prices and falling coal prices led to a recent spike in EU coal use.

Domestic regulation in the UK to clean up or close coal power stations will come into force next month and many operators have sought to squeeze out extra capacity from those facilities before they shut.

In Germany, the decision to close down all its nuclear power plants by 2022 has seen coal fill the void in the short term.

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The Poor People’s Energy Outlook 2013 says access to a reliable electricity supply is lowest in South Asia.

In India 46% of health facilities, serving an estimated 580 million people, are without electricity.

In sub-Saharan Africa more than 30% of health facilities, serving an estimated 255 million people, are without electricity.

Facilities without electric lighting have to depend on paraffin lamps, candles or torches that provide low-quality light, give off harmful fumes, and in some cases present a fire hazard.

They also dramatically lower the life expectancy rates – particularly among newborn children.

Electricity access rates in health facilities for the few developing countries with available data. Source: USAID, 2012 & IIPS, 2011 (Pic: Practical Action)

Electricity access rates in Kenyan health facilities increased from 62% in 2004 to 74% in 2010.

The report reveals in the same period the number of facilities with incubators for newborn babies increased from 38 to 62, and the probability of the baby dying in the first 28 days after birth dropped from 40 to 28 per 1000 births.

The study highlights the twin challenges of vastly increasing electricity provision around the world while cutting global greenhouse gas emissions.

It also warns that current levels of annual investment are US$39 billion less than what the International Energy Agency says is needed to achieve universal access by 2030.

Launched in 2012, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative set a target of providing universal access to energy, doubling the share of renewables and doubling energy efficiency standards by 2030.

Practical Action say this can only be achieved if national plans and the portfolios of donors, multilaterals and the private sector “embrace appropriate decentralized solutions” such as mini- and off-grid networks.

It also recommends SE4ALL focuses on the provision of low-power technologies, such as solar home systems and solar lanterns, as well as encouraging financial conditions where smaller renewable energy projects can borrow money at low interest rates.

VIDEO: Energy poverty afflicting 50% of Nigerians

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By Isobel Braithwaite

Population and family are complex topics but must be addressed, argues Isobel Braithwaite (Source: IRRI images/flickr)

There are far too many stories of forced abortions and sterilisations from the last hundred years, and unfortunately they aren’t confined to the past.

Horrific things go on to this day, with Uzbekistan’s recent violations of women’s reproductive and human rights forming just one of the more recent tales in a long and murky history.

We know about the various negative consequences of China’s one-child policy: the gender imbalance that it led to, and the isolation and overwhelming pressure felt by many of the only children born.

There are a string of other reasons too why almost everyone in the environmental movement steers away from talking about population. It’s too controversial, too complicated, or not important.

The economist Malthus was wrong: the problem is our over-consumption or the big bad corporate – population growth will slow of its own accord with development and we can’t alter the trajectory.

Last year, I heard the British naturalist David Attenborough give a speech, and one of the things he talked about was the urgent need to slow population growth.

The audience didn’t react too well – until he explained that what he meant by that was to make sure all girls had the chance to be educated, women an equal chance to be employed and that everyone who wanted family planning had access to it.

So does thinking about population really matter, or is it just a side issue without a significant bearing on our current environmental challenges?

To help answer this question, I went to see Simon Ross, chief executive of UK-based think-tank and campaign group, ‘Population Matters’.

Simon’s argument is that, ‘human impact is driven partly by human numbers’. Which makes sense: our numbers have gone from one to seven billion in a couple of centuries – as Mark Lynas noted in 2004, ‘the biomass of humans is now greater than that of any other animal species that has ever existed on land’.

Along with greatly increased average consumption of natural resources per capita, humans’ environmental footprint has sky-rocketed in the same time.

Simon argues that ‘using rights-based family planning to slow population growth is a reliable and cost-effective way of addressing climate change, and should be a central part of our climate change strategy.’

As a recent UNFPA report with the subtitle ‘By Choice, Not By Chance: Family Planning, Human Rights and Development’ makes clear, family planning is a human right – and what he wasn’t saying is that we should just tackle either population or consumption. It’s about both.

But we’re clearly not going to implement drastic measures, like a global one or two-child policy, so it could be argued that more minor efforts made would have only a marginal impact on the rate of population growth.

So is it even a relevant question to be asking? I think the answer is yes – but the reason has little to do with reducing climate change.

Attenborough argues, we should be actively promoting all of the things that generally bring down fertility rates; educating girls, ensuring gender equality, providing access to (and education about) family planning methods.

Not primarily for environmental reasons, but because they’re good things in themselves. If environmental concerns provide a driver to improve women’s lives and ensure that their rights are upheld, where’s the dilemma?

It’s hard to believe that there are still over 220 million women who want family planning but don’t have access to it in 2012; and it’s something we need to talk about more.

This July’s Family Planning Summit in London was a big step towards the goal of making family planning available to all women, with groups including governments and the Gates Foundation coming together to provide $2.6 billion per year.

That will meet the need of over half of those currently without access, but the UNFPA estimates in its recent report that another $4.1bn will be needed to ensure coverage for the remainder, but also emphasises the importance of non-financial factors such as promoting gender equality, reinforcing a rights based approach and inc.

If, as an international community, we work to provide comprehensive access to family planning and to ensure girls have equal chances and rights more generally, the benefits in terms of development and reduced resource depletion are likely to cover that investment many times over in the decades to come. If we do, it will be better for children, for parents and for society.

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A new atlas has been published to help reduce the impact of extreme weather events and climatic variability on human health.

The atlas, compiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), tracks shifting patterns of disease and identifies regions that could become more prone to outbreaks associated with extreme weather events.

Major flooding events have more than doubled since 1970 and extreme weather events have tripled since 1960.

Haiti has suffered at the hands of several tropical storms and an earthquake in recent years, with outbreaks of cholera and the H1N1 virus developing in the aftermath.

The atlas, launched at the World Meteorological Congress in Geneva, shows how improved climate data can improve early warning systems to reduce the impact of climate variability on health.

In the aftermath of a major earthquake and several severe tropical storms Haiti has also experienced outbreaks of cholera and H1N1. (Source: UN Photo/UNICEF/Marco Dormino)

“Stronger cooperation between the meteorological and health communities is essential to ensure that up-to-date, accurate and relevant information on weather and climate is integrated into public health management at international, national and local levels,” said Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General, WMO.

The spread of some infectious diseases including cholera, malaria and dengue can vary by a factor of 100 depending on climatic conditions.

Adding these variables to existing health risk assessments can improve the identification of potential hotspots increasing the lead time for a public health response.

Related articles:

Who knows if climate change is to blame – but Sandy is a wake-up call

One year on: Building resilience in the Horn of Africa

Experts: Climate change to increase lung disease

Increased cooperation can also help responses to impending periods of extreme heat. With continued urbanisation and an increase in the frequency of these events, extreme heat is a growing concern, but one that can be mitigated for.

The success of early warning systems for natural disasters such as cyclones has already been proved as an effective measure to reduce deaths.

Comparable cyclones in Bangladesh in 1970 and 2007 killed 500,000 and 3,000 respectively.

In the case of meningitis, spread of the virus is facilitated by dry and dusty conditions. By pre-empting where and when these will occur, allows targeted vaccination programmes to limit the disease’s impact.

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Increased levels of air pollution can be expected around the world unless urgent action is taken to cut man-made emissions, according to a new study.

Published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, the study predicts that without new policies citizens  40 years from now will face similar air quality to that of East Asia today.

In 2008 a NASA satellite tracked the progress of a massive plume of pollution from China, caused by forest fires, urban exhausts, power and manufacturing plants – a result of China’s rapid industrialisation.

Researchers warn that without legislation to lower emissions, citizens of 2050 could face degraded air quality and possible health impacts (Source: theseoduke/Creative Commons)

The World Health Organisation estimates that 1.3 million deaths are caused every year from urban outdoor air pollution.

The study found that eastern China and Northern India could be especially affected by air pollution – due to their high population density.

It suggests that if no major policy changes are implemented, East Asia could be exposed to high levels of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, sulphur and fine particulate matter – such as those found in smoke and haze as early as 2025.

Air quality would also be reduced in Europe and North America, but to a lesser extent than Asia, say the researchers, largely due to mitigation policies which have been in place for the last two decades.

In Northern India and the Arabian Gulf Region, a marked increase in ozone levels would be expected.

Call for action

The researchers examined the impact of man-made emissions on air quality on the assumption that past emissions trends continue and no additional climate change and air pollution reduction measures are taken – beyond what has been in place since 2005.

Their findings add urgency to the quest for a binding global greenhouse gas emissions deal – which is scheduled to be agreed by 2015.

“Post-Kyoto climate negotiations are progressing slowly and it is unclear how air quality policies will develop globally,” report co-author Greet Janssens-Maenhout explained.

The first period of the Kyoto Protocol comes to an end at the end of the year – and countries are currently working to come up with a new agreement for an extension to the Protocol.

Related Articles:

25/07/2012 – UK, Germany & France join coalition against black carbon and methane pollutants

19/03/2012 – Experts: Climate change to increase lung disease

09/02/2012 – Beijing announces drastic action to slash air pollution

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Today we look at how the conservation and sustainable use of Prunus Africana is improving the lives of small-scale farmers in Africa.

The African Cherry tree Prunus Africana has medicinal properties that have earned it a valued place in small-scale farming communities. Scientists at Bioversity International with partners are studying the conservation and sustainable use of this species in an effort to help rural communities improve livelihoods.

The African Cherry tree can play a crucial role in local economies is managed sustainably. (Source: Barbara Vinceti, Bioversity International)

The African Cherry tree is an evergreen tree species that grows in the mountains of sub-Saharan Africa, especially Kenya, Madagascar and Cameroon. Chemicals extracted from the bark of the tree are used in pharmaceutical products to treat enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia), a common condition that affects up to half of men over the age of 50. This market demand provided an important source of income for small-holder farming communities, especially in Cameroon. In 2007 alone, its annual export trade was worth 1.3 million euro, with around 4000 tonnes of bark exported annually to Europe.

All of the traded bark has been harvested from wild trees. However, overharvesting of bark from wild trees led to a ban on international trade of the tree’s bark in 2007. Without the trade, many local communities struggle to earn any income, many of them living in harsh subsistence farming conditions.

But in spite of the ban, some smallholder farmers have continued to plant seedlings and maintain the forests and the biodiversity contained within it, hoping the ban will be lifted and that community plans such as improved health and education facilities can be realized.

Mr. Peter, a Cameroon farmer who has been planting Prunus Africana trees for 18 years, said: “I do it because I love it. But of course, I hope harvesting can begin again soon so I can earn a decent income for my family.”

For the restrictions to be lifted, EU regulators needed evidence that sustainable harvesting techniques will be successfully adopted to avoid overharvesting in the future. Bioversity International and partners are helping to share information on how this tree can be harvested sustainably. Local farmers associations and extension workers know how to harvest the bark so that trees are not killed or significantly damaged. In addition, farmers in Cameroon have planted many African Cherry trees to eventually supplement or replace the dependence on wild harvest.

Barbara Vinceti - Bioversity International Chemicals extracted from the bark of the tree are used in pharmaceutical products to treat enlarged prostate, benign prostatic hyperplasia. (Source: Barbara Vinceti, Bioversity International)

With the objective of conserving the species for future benefits and improving livelihoods now, three CGIAR centres (CIFOR, ICRAF and Bioversity International) have conducted studies and developed guidelines for sustainable management and conservation of the species.

The information produced by these centres has contributed to having the trade ban partially lifted, which allows exports to flow to Europe again, improving the livelihoods of small-scale farmers who depend on this tree as a source of income.

In addition, Bioversity international and partners have analysed genetic diversity throughout the species’ range to identify areas of highest conservation concern.

The analyses showed that the highest genetic diversity both in genetic markers and bark chemistry was found in Kenya, Madagascar and Cameroon, showing that these areas need to be targeted as a high priority for conservation.

Scientists looked at how the distribution of suitable habitat for the species is likely to change with changing climate and found that the area that is predicted to be suitable for Prunus Africana by 2050, based on projected climate conditions, will be less than half of the area that is currently suitable for the species. The populations in Cameroon appear to be especially vulnerable, adding urgency to the need for conservation of their genetic resources.

Bioversity International uses agricultural biodiversity to improve people’s lives. We carry out global research to seek solutions for three key challenges: Sustainable Agriculture, Nutrition, Conservation.

Partners for this project included the Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape, Vienna, Austria, and national partners from nine collaborating countries.

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The research found those over 65 with predisposing medical conditions were at risk from even small fluctuations in tempurature (© Pedrosimoes7/Creative Commons)

Even small changes in summer temperatures can shorten the life expectancy of elderly people and results in 10,000 additional deaths annually, according to new research.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examined the risk to elderly people suffering from predisposing medical conditions from as little as a 1°C temperature rise.

It found that even a small rise in temperature could result in thousands of additional deaths a year.

The study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) aimed to break away from previous studies which look at the short-term effects of heat waves, to examine the longer-term effects of summertime variability, which is expected to increase with climate change.

While heat waves produce higher death rates in the short-term, the latest research found that minor temperature variation caused by climate change could also increase death rates over time among elderly people already suffering from diabetes, heart failure, chronic lung disease or those who have survived a heart attack.

“The effect of temperature patterns on long-term mortality has not been clear to this point,” Antonella Zanobetti, lead author of the report told OnMedica. “We found that, independent of heat waves, high day to day variability in summer temperatures shortens life expectancy.

“The variability can be harmful for susceptible people.”

Scientists predict that climate change will not only increase temperatures globally, but that it will also increase summer temperature variability swings, which could pose major public health concern, says the report.

The research examined Medicare data from 1985-2005 following the long-term health of 3.7 million people over 65 suffering from underlying illnesses across 135 US cities.

They found that in each city where swings in summer temperature were higher, death rates were also higher compared to those years with smaller swings in temperature.

Where a 1°C increase was witnessed, the increase in death rates varied between 2.8% and 4% depending on the underlying condition, according to the study.

The researchers predict that greater summer temperature variability in the US could result in 10,000 more deaths every year.

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Increases in displaced persons, desertification and even longer plant blooming periods endanger respiratory health. (Source: UN)

A group of international researchers have claimed that climate change is responsible for the escalation of a number of lung diseases and respiratory conditions.

The researchers said that increased air pollution, in urban and rural locations, were just one reason why changing weather patterns were affecting human health.

The American Thoracic Society, which has members across the globe issued a position paper to inform its members on its stance with regard to climate change.

The panel of scientists from Europe, Asia, India, Middle East and Africa made a number of recommendations based on their own specialities.

Kent Pinkerton, Co-author of the study and air quality specialist, listed the risks to health from his field of study.

“These include more smoke and particulate matter from more wildfires, which are known to increase in frequency as the climate warms, and the presence of airborne particles from dust storms caused by desertification,” said Pinkerton.

Climate change is also increasing the range of certain airborne diseases that were previously restricted by temperature.

The paper gives the example of a mould spore previously limited to Central America that is now being found as far north as Canada. The spores can increase allergies and asthma. Similarly, infectious disease from the Mediterranean, are now being found in Scandinavia.

Respiratory problems linked to increased wildfires, pollen from extended plant blooms and heightened dust levels from desertification and soil degradation will also increase.

The group also identified more indirect health risks such as increases in infectious disease among displaced populations.

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Linking La Nina to flu pandemics could provide health officials with more time to prepare (Source: Eneas/Flickr)

Major flu pandemics could be linked to a climate variation, according to a new study.

Research released this week found that a La Nina event, which creates cooler temperatures in the Pacific Ocean and generally, cooler global air temperatures, has preceded the last four major flu pandemics in 1918, 1957, 1968 and 2009.

The La Nina events occur every two to seven years. One is currently underway.

The findings published in the in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences suggest that the effect of La Nina on bird migration patterns could contribute to flu outbreaks.

“Migratory birds, with their long travel distances and many stopovers, are thought to be particularly critical for the mixing and reassortment of [the] influenza virus,” according to the report.

Birds provide the largest pool from which strains of the human flu are derived.

One of the study’s lead authors, Jeffrey Shaman, an environmental health scientist at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University stressed that the theory is yet to be proved.

Speaking to The Huffington Post he said that if the link could be shown to be more than coincidence, it could provide some time to prepare before a pandemic emerges.

“It could allow us to intensify our vigilance and put more resources in place,” said Shaman.

More work has been proposed to test the theory.

The post Flu pandemics linked to climate variation appeared first on Climate Home News.

Fracking involves injecting a mix of water and chemicals into the rocks at high pressure (Copyright K A/Geography.org.uk)

Pressure is growing on the Shale gas industry to “push the pause button” on exploration following a growing consensus in the medical community that the potential health impacts of gas exploration have not been addressed.

Delegates at a conference this week held by the Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy (PSE) and the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment (MACCHE), called on government to halt the rapid expansion of Hydraulic fracturing – more commonly known as ‘fracking’ – while research into its effects is carried out.

Adam Law, MD, from Weill Cornell Medical College, and a founding member of PSE said: “The industry keeps saying there is no evidence of any pathway of exposure. That’s not good enough. Your have to go out and do the studies. There is a growing understanding that public health is being effected.”

Fracking involves injecting a mix of water and chemicals into the rocks at high pressure to release the natural gas trapped within them.

It has faced criticism over potential air and water contamination – both from what is pumped into the ground and what is released during the process, either through venting or flow-back water, which includes methane and carcinogenic chemicals.

There are over 26,000 fracking wells across 16 states in the USA, with some reports suggesting the States has enough gas underground to last the next century.

It’s a growing industry across the world, despite recent earthquakes in the US and in the UK  being attributed to exploration.

Health complaints near wells

The US gas industry says it does everything possible to ensure safety and address public health in all of its operations, and the water allows small fissures to release the natural gas from targeted sections of the shale rock and within a self contained system.

Dan Whitten from America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), which represents companies from across the US, said: “ANGA companies take seriously the responsibility of ensuring the safety of our operations.

“Extraordinary precautions are taken to protect workers, the people of the communities we work in and the environment. In addition, extensive federal and state regulations are in place to address public health and safety.

“Hydraulic fracturing has been used to develop natural gas for more than six decades and this technology accounts for a quarter of all the energy we use in this country. The conclusions drawn by these individuals are not sustained by either history or the broader science of natural gas development.

While the process of fracking has been used for decades, the current method of horizontal fracturing is newer.

While the industry assures critics that there should be no increased risk,  the medical community is less convinced.

Some of the health complaints associated with proximity to the fracking wells  are skin problems, rashes, respiratory problems and the use of carcinogenic chemicals and their links to cancer.

Medical experts are calling for more research into these areas.

Following a 2005 decision to remove the fracking process from US Federal Regulation, legislation on fracking is formed on a state-by-state basis. For example the extraction of the Marcellus Shale in New York State is currently undergoing an Environmental Impact Assessment.

Law, from the PSE, warns that in some states this is not a requirement, and even in New York State, the health impacts are little considered in the report. He says this must change, and believes the way forward is by building a consortium of experts who can provide country-wide research.

CONTACT RTCC: Email info@rtcc.org and send us your views

This has been welcomed by the American Public Health Association (APHA). Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the APHA said: “APHA believe the potential harmful consequences of shale gas exploration to the public’s health are too great and uncertain.

“We strongly agree with the call that the public health effects of shale gas must be examined before the industry continues to expand in the US.

“Further research will help provide desperately needed answers for which we still have questions. We cannot afford to jeopardize the public’s health for the sake of the industry’s bottom line.”

Jake Rubbin from the American Gas Association says that the industry does understans the importance of engaing with the public on issues of gas exploration.

“While AGA is not an advocate for natural gas producers directly, the association recognizes the benefits of a strong domestic production position to local gas utilities and natural gas consumers,” he said.

The AGA’s principles include a commitment to operational standards ensuring safe, environmentally sound, sustainable natural gas resources, together with public disclosure.

Law claims improvements have been made in this area, with more companies now reporting the chemicals they are using in the fracking process.

He believes there is much further to go to fully understand the potential impacts of the industry.

“We need to push the pause button so we don’t get deeper into this and do more damage,” he said.

Contact the author on ts@rtcc.org or @rtcc_tierney.

RTCC VIDEO: Dr. Abdul Rahim Hashim, President of the International Gas Association explains the role gas could play in a future energy mix.

The post Health concerns put shale gas exploration in spotlight appeared first on Climate Home News.

Health leaders gathering in Durban have warned that without a strong commitment at the COP17 conference, billions of lives could be at risk as they announced a “public health alert”.

Over 200 leaders from more than 30 countries have issued a Declaration and Call to Action following a Global Climate and Health Summit.

They say the current estimates by the World Health Organisation (WHO) – which estimated 150,000 deaths per year from climate related impacts – are now outdated and the figure could be much higher with many of the impacts already being felt across the world.

Speaking during the conference, Maria Neira, Head of the WHO delegation to COP17 said: “Here is the diagnosis. This is a public health alert and normally when WHO says this is a public health warning the next step is to start generating action.”

Dr Hugh Montgomery, from the Climate and Health Council UK worries that the health community is not being heard by the delegations attending the conference this week.

Speaking to RTCC he said: “I have no idea how to get this to politicians because – and this is not a political comment – we are generally so divorced from the people who make decisions in our countries. It is understandable, they are very very busy for example in Britain with a massive economic crisis in their own country and in Europe and around the world along with health, education, conflict and there isn’t a space in their diaries to hear from people such as ourselves.

“The problem with that is trying to find out where to feed this kind of information in a way that doesn’t eventually just run out of energy in meeting those decision makers or become diluted in the process is very difficult.”

But he said getting the message across was vital, as it was a matter of life and death for many. He said: “That’s really what we are talking about here, we are not talking about dollars and we are not talking about tree frogs and we are not talking about atmospherics and global temperatures and what happens to ice packs. We are talking about the impacts on humans and that is suffering and death on a biblical scale. I mean we are not talking about a few thousand, we are talking about colossal numbers.”

The experts warned that the effects of climate change were already being felt around the world, at a 0.7˚C rise and with many experts saying that countries are becoming more and more unlikely to remain on a pathway below 2˚C and predictions varying from between 3˚C to 7˚C rises, they say the health impacts will be much worse.

They warn the impacts of climate change on health will be wide-ranging includes heatwaves, changes in bacterial disease, water contamination, changes in pollen, drought, flood, extreme weather events, agricultural failure, migration and conflict.

And these impacts could mean a huge bill for the health service. For example a report out last month estimated that the cost on the health impacts of climate change over the last decade cost the US $14 billion.

Montgomery said: “This is an emergency, it is a crisis but it is not understood by our negotiators.”

The post Climate Change is causing a health emergency say experts appeared first on Climate Home News.

Red River floods, 2009 (Source: dvidshub/Flickr)

Floods, drought and other disasters associated with a changing climate cost the US more than $14 billion over the last decade, according to research published in the journal Health Affairs.

The study looked at six climate change related disasters between 2000 and 2009, events the authors stress are expected to worsen as the planet warms.

Ozone pollution, heat waves, hurricanes, infectious disease outbreaks, river flooding and wildfires resulted in an estimated 1,689 premature deaths, 8,992 hospitalisations, 21,113 emergency room visits and 734,398 outpatient visits according to the study.

The largest cost was $13.3 billion – based on premature deaths, while actual health care costs were an estimated $740 million.

The scientists and economists from the non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council, the University of California-Berkeley and the University of California-San Francisco said they chose events in the middle of the ‘severity spectrum’ and left out some of the most costly disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The highest costs directly related climate related disasters studied were from ozone air pollution between 2000 and 2002 at $6.5 billion and the California heat wave in 2006 at $5.3 billion.

Other events looked at were the West Nile virus outbreak in Louisiana, 2002, costing $207 million, Southern California wildfires, 2003, at $578 million, the Florida hurricane season, 2004, costing $1.4 billion and the Red River flooding in North Dakota, 2009, at $20 million.

The authors say the study highlights the growing need for public health preparedness to climate change  and aims to provide a methodology for estimating future health costs.

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