News Highlight
A recent report by the Lancet has traced the close link between climate change events and their impact on people’s health.
Key Takeaway
- The 2022 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change report says that: Health at the mercy of fossil fuels points out that the world’s reliance on fossil fuels increases the risk of disease, food insecurity and other illnesses related to heat.
The ways climate change affects health
- Infectious disease
- Increased temperature intensifies the threat of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and diarrheal infections.
- For instance, it records that coastal waters are becoming more suited for transmitting Vibrio pathogens.
- It also says that the months suitable for malaria transmission have increased in the highland areas of the Americas and Africa.
- Additional death
- The WHO has predicted that between 2030 and 2050, climate change will cause approximately 2,50,000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress.
- Food security
- An increase in crop failure and change in crop patterns due to climate change threatens India’s food security.
- The impact of food security endangers nutritional stability, which triggers vulnerability to diseases.
- Heatwave
- From 2012-2021, infants under one year old experienced more heatwave days.
- From 2000-2004 to 2017-2021, heat-related deaths increased by 55% in India.
- Ocean Acidification
- The increase in the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has increased the CO2 absorption in the ocean. This makes the ocean acidic.
- The increase in the acidification of the ocean can be harmful to many marine species like plankton, molluscs, etc.
- The corals are especially susceptible to this as they find it challenging to create and maintain the skeletal structures needed for survival.
Efforts were taken to tackle climate change
- Net-zero
- The Prime Minister made a net zero carbon target by 2070 at COP 26.
- International Solar Alliance
- India initiated the formation of ISA to boost solar power generation all over the world.
- Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)
- The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure promotes infrastructure systems’ resilience to climate and disaster risks.
Way forward
- Plant-based diet
- There should be a transition to a balanced and more plant-based diet as that would help reduce emissions from red meat and milk production.
- Health-focused shift
- The health-focused shift would reduce the burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases.
- Promotion of climate-smart agriculture
- Considering the rapid population growth and globalisation, there is an urgent need to identify and promote sustainable farming practices and tools, using inputs more efficiently and effectively to grow more from less.
- For example, precision farming.
- Promoting climate-resilient crops
- Reviving traditional climate-resilient crops such as millets, tubers, pulses and cereals, harnessing resource conservation technologies could measurably rejuvenate degraded land and the ecosystem.
- End fossil fuel subsidies
- Fossil fuel subsidy reforms must be implemented to reduce fossil fuel consumption.
The Lancet
- About
- The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal.
- It is the world’s highest-impact general medical journal, and one of the oldest.
- Foundation
- It was founded in England in 1823.
Content Source: The Hindu