Meenu Sadhotra
Climate Change is sometimes misunderstood as being about changes in the weather. In reality , it is about changes in our very way of life . ” – Paul & Olman .
Climate Change weaves through from global politics and business to sea levels and weather to the clothes & food we eat. Climate change simply includes long term change in average patterns of weather which are broad range in nature. Today’s scenario demands urgent action against changes occurring in climate.
Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies and affecting lives, costing people, communities and countries.
The globe is experiencing the significant impacts of climate change, which include changing weather patterns, rising sea level, and more extreme weather events. The greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are driving climate change and continue to rise. They are now at their highest levels in history. Without action, the world’s average surface temperature is projected to rise over the 21st century and is likely to surpass 3 degrees Celsius this century-with some areas of the world expected to warm even more. The poorest and most vulnerable people are being affected the most.
But climate change is a global challenge that does not respect national borders. Emissions anywhere affect people everywhere. It is an issue that requires solutions that need to be coordinated at the international level and it requires international cooperation to help developing countries move toward a low-carbon economy.
Climate change is impacting human lives and health in a variety of ways. It threatens the essential ingredients of good health – clean air, safe drinking water, nutritious food supply and safe shelter – and has the potential to undermine decades of progress in global health.
Affordable, scalable solutions are now available to enable countries to leapfrog to cleaner, more resilient economies. The pace of change is quickening as more people are turning to renewable energy and a range of other measures that will reduce emissions and increase adaptation efforts.
Environmental impacts- Causes intense droughts, storms, rising sea levels , melting glaciers and Warming oceans.
Agricultural Impacts- Disrupt food availability, reduces access to food and deteriorates food quality.
Mankind Impacts – leads to various diseases which in turn may increase mortality and limit worker productivity.
Actions that needed to be taken against present day situation (Climate Change ) can be broadly classified into two categories:
A. Actions By Organizations and Governments of various countries
B. Individual’s Climate Action.
Both these categories have so far taken various steps to address this issue.
Climate change is a rising issue, requiring global coordination. But global coordination is a slow moving ship and at the same time, global support is needed, particularly on finance, and as leader of the G 20 in this critical year, India can and should try and shape this agenda. Actions which are already in work have contributed a lot but much more is still needed so we can save our planet for good present and better future.
To address climate change, countries adopted the Paris Agreement at the COP21 in Paris on 12 December 2015. In the agreement, all countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and given the grave risks, to strive for 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Implementation of the Paris Agreement is essential for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and provides a roadmap for climate actions that will reduce emissions and build climate resilience.
Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress alone. Areas with weak health infrastructure – mostly in developing countries – will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond.
Greenhouse gas emissions that result from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels are major contributors to both climate change and air pollution. Many policies and individual measures, such as transport, food and energy use choices, have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and produce major health co-benefits, particularly by abating air pollution. The phase out of polluting energy systems, for example, or the promotion of public transportation and active movement, could both lower carbon emissions and cut the burden of household and ambient air pollution.
Climate change is already impacting health in a myriad of ways, including illness from increasingly frequent extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, storms and floods, the disruption of food systems, increases in zoonoses and food-, water- and vector-borne diseases, and mental health issues. Furthermore, climate change is undermining many of the social determinants for good health, such as livelihoods, equality and access to health care and social support structures. These climate-sensitive health risks are disproportionately felt by the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, including women, children, ethnic minorities, poor communities, migrants or displaced persons, older populations and those with underlying health conditions.
In the short to medium term, the health impacts of climate change will be determined mainly by the vulnerability of populations, their resilience to the current rate of climate change and the extent and pace of adaptation. In the longer term, the effects will increasingly depend on the extent to which transformational action is taken now to reduce emissions and avoid the breaching of dangerous temperature thresholds and potential irreversible tipping points.
WHO supports countries in building climate-resilient health systems and tracking national progress in protecting health from climate change, as well as in assessing the health gains that would result from the implementation of the existing Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Agreement, and the potential for larger gains from more ambitious climate action.
WHO’s work plan on climate change and health includes:
Advocacy and partnerships: coordinating with partner agencies within the UN system, and ensuring that health is properly represented in the climate change agenda, as well as providing and disseminating information on the threats that climate change presents to human health and opportunities to promote health while cutting carbon emissions;
Monitoring science and evidence: coordinating reviews of the scientific evidence on the links between climate change and health; assessing country’s preparedness and needs when facing climate change; and developing a global research agenda;
Supporting countries to protect human health from climate change: strengthening national capacities and improving the resilience and adaptive capacity of health systems to deal with the adverse health effects of climate change; and
Building capacity on climate change and human health: assisting countries to build capacity to reduce health vulnerability to climate change and promoting health while reducing carbon emissions.
Protecting, preparing and prioritizing every child for a safe, sustainable and water-secure future.
UNICEF
Climate change is a proven fact. Global warming has caused serious changes to the planet, such as rising sea levels, extreme weather events, deforestation, disappearance of species. But, as individuals we can slow down global warming by implementing sore more sustainable actions within our community.
(The author is Head, Deptt. of Zoology, GDCW, Kathua)
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