Doctors, activists and country representatives at the UN COP28 climate summit held in recent days in Dubai have agreed to demand greater global commitment and effort to protect people from the growing health and safety risks posed by change. climate.
Assuming the planet's temperatures will rise over the coming decades, experts have ruled that countries will need to "increase funding for healthcare" as heat waves become more dangerous, favoring, among other things, the spread of diseases. such as malaria and cholera. Climate-related impacts "have become one of the biggest threats to human health in the 21st century," concluded COP28 President Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber.
It was late yesterday Saturday when 123 of the almost 200 countries gathered at COP28 signed a declaration recognizing their "responsibility to keep people safe." The declaration, however, does not mention fossil fuels, at the time the main source of emissions with a direct impact on rising temperatures.
Researchers in natural and social sciences, in fact, have confirmed the worst predictions by maintaining that exceeding the limit of 1.5 degrees of global warming with respect to pre-industrial levels "is becoming inevitable." Listing as direct effects the increase already recorded in cases of malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress in some regions of the planet.
In that sense, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates confirmed that scientists are working around the clock to prevent mosquito-borne malaria as rising temperatures create a more hospitable habitat for the insects to reproduce.
"We're in a lot of trouble," said Joseph Vipond, an emergency room doctor in Alberta, Canada. He recalled the case of a child who died from an asthma attack made worse by inhaling smoke from Western Canada's record wildfires this year. "This is having real-world impacts."
Climate change is also increasing the frequency of dangerous storms and more erratic rainfall. In September, Storm Daniel killed more than 11,000 people in Libya and last year's massive flooding in Pakistan led to a 400% increase in malaria cases across the country, according to the World Health Organization.
Governments and philanthropies are expected to announce new funds late Sunday to prevent and treat climate-related health issues.
