Climate change brings serious health risks

December 26, 2021 / activist360 / Leave a comment

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that global warming and rainfall changes cause the loss of at least 150,000 lives every year.

By César Chelala, Common Dreams, (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

To avoid many of the health impacts of climate change it is important to strengthen public-health programs.”

Much attention has been devoted in recent times to the environmental and economic effects of climate change. Much less attention, however, has been given to the possible effects of climate change, particularly global warming, on the health of the populations, particularly those from the poorest countries. This is a trend that requires prompt attention if the negative effects of climate change on health are to be avoided or minimized. According to some estimates, at least 1 in 6 people worldwide will suffer the consequences of climate change.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that global warming and rainfall changes cause the loss of at least 150,000 lives every year. This figure could increase significantly if current trends of climate change continue. The WHO also states that the risk of death and disease from climate change will at least double in the next 20 years. Paradoxically, the countries that have least contributed to global warming are the most vulnerable to its negative consequences.

Global warming can affect the health of populations both directly and indirectly. Direct effects can result from heat-related deaths or weather-caused disasters such as hurricanes and drought-related wildfires. Indirect effects can result from alterations in complex ecological processes such as changes in the patterns of infectious diseases, in the quantity and quality of domestic food production, and altered potable water supplies. Experts predict that receding waters in the Ganges River could affect the lives of 400 million people.

Climate change could also alter the geographic distribution of disease vectors and thus alter the epidemiology of vector-transmitted diseases. Some diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue and encephalitis, which are spread by insects, are sensitive to climate, since mosquitoes thrive in warmer climates. Other diseases, like cholera, are closely linked to the quality of potable water supplies, which can be seriously eroded by increasing rains, resulting in flooding and contamination by microorganisms.

Climate change will seriously affect food production, since many cereal crops can be affected by higher temperatures. This will have an effect not only on the amounts of food available but also on the economies of the countries affected.

Crop failures will provoke a higher death toll in poor countries, particularly among children, as a result of malnutrition. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that almost 800 million people in developing countries do not currently have enough to eat, a figure that is bound to increase substantially as a result of climate change.

In addition, prolonged heatwaves will likely increase deaths from heart disease, since the cardiovascular system must work harder to keep the body cool. Because the elderly and the sick are more susceptible to the effects of extreme changes in temperature, heatwaves will also pose health risks to those populations. Warmer weather may also provoke increases in ground-level ozone, which will increase the frequency of respiratory diseases by damaging lung tissue and sensitizing the respiratory tract to other irritants.

Increased global warming could exacerbate the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, increase the number of environmental refugees fleeing from weather-related disasters, and augment the risk of disease migration and epidemics. While the range of health consequences is wide and their magnitude difficult to predict, children are among the most vulnerable to these changes. Since children constitute almost half of the population in many developing countries, such problems assume even greater significance.

Although human populations vary widely in their vulnerability to climatic change, one may reasonably predict that those particularly affected will be the poor and marginal populations that have less easy access to adequate health services to respond to emergencies. In this regard, climate change will exacerbate the disparities between the rich and the poor throughout the world. Not only will the poor in developing countries be affected, however, but even the poor in industrialized societies.

To respond to the challenges of climate change, however, requires more than resources and technology. What is necessary is increased education, advocacy and the creation of legal frameworks to allow the people and governments better-informed and sustainable policy decisions. It is also important to develop risk-communication strategies.

To avoid many of the health impacts of climate change it is important to strengthen public-health programs so that they can monitor and treat the spread of infectious diseases, and respond more effectively to health emergencies as they appear. Climate change is a most serious health risk. We will ignore its consequences on the health of the populations at our own risk.

Air Quality Strategy to Reduce Coronavirus Infection

May 29, 2020 / activist360 / Leave a comment

All-Party Parliamentary Group on Air Pollution (APPG) is an organization in the United Kingdom made up of Members of Parliament (MPs) and their peers who work together to promote measures to tackle poor air quality.

n May 29, 2020, the APPG launched its Air Quality Strategy to Reduce Coronavirus Infection to keep air pollution low and to deliver World Health Organization Air Quality Standards.

*Cover of Air Quality Strategy to Reduce Corona Virus Infection Report*

Preventing Future Pandemics Requires Sweeping U.S. Action on Wildlife Trade

May 19, 2020 / activist360 / Leave a comment

WASHINGTON— Conservation groups released a sweeping action plan today for the United States to dramatically crack down on wildlife trade, which is the most probable cause of the global coronavirus pandemic. Among other proposals, the action plan recommends that the United States end live wildlife imports, curtail all other wildlife trade until stricter regulations are adopted, and take a global leadership role in controlling wildlife trade to stop future pandemics.

Image of END WILDLIFE TRADE An Action Plan to Prevent Future Pandemics — END WILDLIFE TRADE An Action Plan To Prevent Future Pandemics

Over the past 40 years, most global pandemics — including HIV, SARS, Ebola and Zika — have been zoonotic, meaning that they jumped from wildlife to people. The coronavirus likely originated from a live wildlife market in China — potentially passed from a bat, to another animal, to a human. Wildlife markets typically sell many different types of live wildlife, including both legally and illegally sourced animals.

“If we’re going to avoid future pandemics, the United States and every other nation needs to do its part to stop the exploitation of wildlife.

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“The loss of life and other devastating impacts of the coronavirus make it clear that the meager economic benefits of commodifying wildlife are simply not worth the risks.”
—Brett Hartl, Government Affairs Director at the Center for Biological Diversity

Irresponsible wildlife trade is a global problem. Importing more than 224 million live animals and 883 million other wildlife species every year, the United States is one of the world’s top wildlife importers. It also remains a common destination for illegally traded species. The United States and other nations have made only half-hearted efforts to address the impacts of wildlife trade and lack capacity to address trade effectively.

Today’s action plan, released by the Center for Biological Diversity and the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), proposes actions under four broader categories that Congress and federal agencies should implement to prevent future zoonotic pandemics:

Lead a global crackdown on wildlife trade;
Strengthen U.S. conservation laws to fight wildlife trade;
Invest $10 billion in U.S. and global capacity to stop wildlife trade, while helping communities transition to alternative livelihoods; and
Resume the U.S. position as a global leader in international wildlife conservation.

“This pandemic has made clear: wildlife trade is not only a threat to biodiversity—it’s also a threat to global public health.

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“China’s response to the COVID-19 crisis took quick action to restrict wildlife trade. In contrast, the U.S. has failed to take a single step towards minimizing this threat. That should change now.”
—Elly Pepper, deputy director for International Wildlife Conservation at the NRDC

*Long-tailed pangolin (M. tetradactyla) by Brett Hartl / Center for Biological Diversity. Image is available for media use.*

Biodiversity loss, high rates of deforestation, and vast increases in agricultural development are leading to an increase in human encroachment into previously undisturbed habitat and contact with wildlife. As people move deeper into these last natural areas of the planet, scientists believe that infectious diseases will continue to emerge. Experts predict that new diseases will emerge from wildlife to infect humans somewhere between every four months and every three years.

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The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world’s natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Chicago; Bozeman, Montana; and Beijing.