The international monitoring project established when the Paris Agreement was signed reported on Wednesday that climate-related health risks are worsening, with more people facing dangerous heat, food insecurity, pathogens and other threats.
A team of 122 researchers from United Nations agencies and academic institutions around the world published their findings in The Lancet ahead of climate change negotiations scheduled for next month in Azerbaijan. The findings were accompanied by the authors’ urgent plea for stronger government action to save lives.
Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet Countdown Project at University College London, said in a statement: “This year’s inventory of the most pressing health threats from inaction on climate change is a step up from the previous eight years of monitoring. The most worrying results have emerged.” “The relentless expansion of fossil fuels and record greenhouse gas emissions threaten to exacerbate these dangerous health impacts, reverse the limited progress we have made and move us further away from a healthy future. .”
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The Lancet Countdown project, which has been tracking a set of more than 40 climate health risk indicators since 2016, added several new elements to its assessment this year. For the first time, the researchers included measures for increased exposure to extreme precipitation and desert dust, highlighting the far-reaching effects caused by increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They also investigated the impact of rising nighttime temperatures on sleep deprivation as part of tracking how climate change is affecting mental health and wellbeing.
Many risk indicators rose as 2023 was the hottest year on record. Scientists used temperature and other weather data, population estimates and epidemiological risk modeling to arrive at their results. Some of the team’s most dramatic health discoveries include:
Heat-related mortality among people 65 and older has increased by 167% compared to the 1990s. The number of these deaths should increase anyway because the aging population is growing, but the researchers concluded that the increase is 102 percentage points higher than it would have been without rising temperatures. In 2023, people spent an average of 1,512 hours during light outdoor exercise with ambient heat posing at least a moderate risk of heat stress, which is 328 hours, about 28 hours more than the annual average from 1990 to 1999. % increasing. 512 billion potential work hours will be lost due to heat exposure in 2023, 49% higher than the 1990-1999 average. 63% of potential lost working hours occur in the agricultural sector. Sleep time lost due to high temperatures increased by 5% between 1986-2005 and 2019-2023. The researchers controlled for environmental factors such as demographics and air conditioning use. “Adequate amount and quality of sleep is important for human physical and mental health,” the authors write. Climatic conditions suitable for disease transmission by the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) increased by approximately 46% from 1951–1960 to 2014–2023. In the case of the so-called “yellow fever mosquito” (Aedes aegypti), the increase was more than 10%. Mosquitoes have been linked to diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya, and Zika virus. Another recent study found that 2023 was the worst year ever for dengue fever worldwide, with 6.5 million cases and more than 6,800 deaths reported. Over 61% of the world’s land area, the number of days of extreme precipitation increased from 1961-1990 to 2014-2023. This increases the risk of flooding, the spread of infectious diseases and water pollution, the researchers said. From 2018 to 2022, approximately 3.8 billion people were exposed to annual average concentrations of small particle pollution from sand and desert dust that exceeded World Health Organization guideline levels. This represents a 31 percent increase in risk compared to 2003-2007. Researchers said drought, poor land management and increasing areas burned by wildfires are increasing the risk. 151 million more people will experience moderate or severe food insecurity in 124 countries in 2022 due to higher frequency of heat wave days and drought months compared to 1981-2010 It’s related to what you did.
“This year’s report makes clear that the world is moving away from its goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C,” the authors write. “People around the world face record threats to their well-being, health and survival from a rapidly changing climate.”
Researchers noted one positive development in climate-related health over the past decade. The number of deaths caused by outdoor particulate pollution from fossil fuel combustion decreased by about 7% between 2016 and 2021. The authors attributed this to the phasing out of coal electricity in high-income countries like the United States, noting the “potential to save lives.” ” measures.
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, chair of the independent committee overseeing the Lancet Countdown project, said in a statement: “Putting health at the heart of climate action will ensure a prosperous future for all. “This is the biggest opportunity of my life.” . “This report is a strong call to action now to protect ourselves, each other and future generations.”
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Marianne Lovell is a reporter for Inside Climate News. She has covered the environment, science, law, and business in Washington, DC, for more than 20 years. She has received the Polk Award, the Investigative Editor and Reporter Award, and numerous other awards. Lovell spent four years at National Geographic as an editor and writer for online energy news. She spearheaded a project on climate change lobbying for the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit journalism organization. She also worked for US News and World Report and The National Law Journal. While there, she led the award-winning 1992 study “Unequal Protection” on disparities in environmental law enforcement against polluters in minority and white communities. Lovell holds a master’s degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is a graduate of Villanova University.
