Climate crisis seriously undermines human health, report finds | Environment

A report written by experts from 27 national science academies exposed the widespread damage that global warming is already causing to people's health and the increasingly serious consequences expected in the future.

Heatwaves and burning floods will be more and more casualties as extreme weather conditions increase, but the spread of mosquito-borne diseases and deterioration of mental health also have serious indirect effects. .

"Impacts are happening now [and]In the next century, climate change must be ranked among the most serious threats to health, "said Professor Sir Andrew Haines, co-chair of the report of the Academic Advisory Council of European Academies (Easac).

However, the report found that measures taken to reduce carbon emissions also had significant benefits, including reducing the 350,000 early deaths from air pollution each year in Europe caused by the burning of fossil fuels. "The economic benefits of addressing the current and future effects of climate change on health will likely be substantial," the report concluded.

The Director General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned in November that climate degradation was already a health crisis. "We can not delay action on climate change," he said. "We will no longer be able to weather this health emergency." In December, a WHO report said tackling the climate crisis would save at least a million lives a year, making it a moral imperative.

The new Easeac report, The Imperative of climate action for the protection of human health in Europe, evaluated the scientific evidence of the effects of global warming on health. Extreme weather conditions such as heat waves, floods and droughts have direct impacts in the short term but also affect longer-term populations. "The effects on mental health include post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, substance abuse and depression," the report says.

Scientists were also concerned about the effects of extreme weather conditions on food production. Studies have shown a 5 to 25% reduction in the yield of staple crops in the Mediterranean region over the next few decades. But the report says even small reductions in meat consumption could lead to significant reductions in carbon emissions, as well as health benefits.

The report predicts the spread of infectious diseases in Europe with rising temperatures and increasing numbers of mosquitoes that transmit dengue fever and ticks that cause Lyme disease. Food poisoning may also increase, with salmonella bacteria developing in warmer conditions, the report says. He even found research suggesting antibiotic resistance in E. coli increases in warmer conditions.

"We are exposing the entire global population to climate change, which is obviously very worrying as we move to some extent into unexplored territory," said Haines, professor of environmental change and public health at the London School of Hygiene. Tropical medicine.

"We are subjecting young people and future generations to these growing practices. [health] risks for hundreds of years to come, even millennia, "he said. "We must try to minimize the effects and move to a low-carbon economy.

"We believe that reframing climate change as a health issue can help engage the public because most people are not only concerned about their own health, but about the health of their loved ones and their descendants.

"We think it's a way to engage the public, to raise concern in a constructive way and to give impetus to change."

Global carbon emissions continue to increase, but scientists believe that rapid and deep reductions are needed to limit temperature increases to 1.5 ° C above pre-industrial levels and avoid the worst impacts.