More than a hundred scientists participated in a study published Wednesday in the journal “The Lancet.” Mortality, food safety, disease transmission, the picture they paint is worrying.
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Climate change is weighing more and more on human health, warn experts in a vast international study, which appears Wednesday, November 15 in the medical journal The Lancet. Some 114 scientists worked on this synthesis, which reminds us that in 2023, our planet will experience the highest temperatures in 100,000 years. We are now exposed to twice as many heatwave days as 20 or 40 years ago. And heat-related deaths among those over 65 have increased by 85% compared to this period. It must be said that extreme heat can affect our respiratory, cardiac and hormonal systems, reduce sleep or appetite.
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In the scenario of global warming of 2 degrees by the end of the century (we are currently on the path to 2.7°C), annual heat-related deaths are likely to be multiplied by five here 2050. Warming does not only impact the human body. Drought has increased food insecurity by an additional 127 million people worldwide compared to the 1980s/90s. Changing temperatures also expose us to a greater risk of dengue fever or malaria, diseases transmitted by mosquitoes. More than a quarter of the cities studied by the researchers fear seeing their health systems overwhelmed by the consequences of the heat.
Mitigation and adaptation
To limit this impact on health, we must focus on mitigation and adaptation: two words that we will hear a lot at the COP 28 in Dubai at the end of November.”Mitigation “, that means reducing our greenhouse gas emissions which are the cause of this global warming. However, the UN recalled on Tuesday that countries’ current commitments are unfortunately insufficient and only lead to a 2% reduction in global emissions in 2030, instead of the 43% targeted to respect the Paris agreement. The discussions at COP 28 will therefore be crucial.
The other way to act is “adaptation”: acting on the insulation of housing, the greening of cities, agricultural production, the use of water, adapting alert and aid systems to the most vulnerable.
But the longer global warming continues, experts warn, the more difficult and costly it will be to adapt.