The United Nations and the Red Cross warned on Monday that within a few decades, heatwaves would become so intense in some parts of the world that human existence will become unsustainable.
In the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and south and southwest Asia, heatwaves are expected to “beyond human physiological and societal boundaries,” resulting in “large-scale misery and loss of life,” according to the groups.
In a joint assessment, they cautioned that this year’s heatwave disasters in places like Pakistan and Somalia portend deadlier, more frequent, and more severe heat-related humanitarian problems in the future.
In preparation of the UN’s COP27 climate change meeting in Egypt next month, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) issued the study.
They listed measures that might lessen the worst impacts of high heat and stated that quick action was required to prevent potentially reoccurring heat catastrophes.
According to the paper, “there are established thresholds beyond which those exposed to excessive heat and humidity cannot survive.”
In addition, society may find it difficult to provide everyone with an appropriate adaptation at such severe heat levels.
According to present course, heatwaves might reach and beyond these physiological and societal thresholds in the ensuing decades, even in places like the Sahel and south and southwest Asia.
This would result in “large-scale misery and loss of life, population migrations, and deeper entrenched inequity,” it was told.
In the future decades, the number of vulnerable individuals in developing nations would significantly expand as a result of the consequences of ageing, global warming, and urbanisation coupled.
The research said that the projected mortality rates from extreme heat were “staggeringly high” and “staggeringly uneven,” and that they would be “equivalent in scale by the end of the century to all malignancies or all infectious illnesses.”
According to the paper, there is a greater risk of disease and mortality for agricultural workers, kids, the elderly, and pregnant and nursing women.
The most vulnerable people are being struck the hardest by extreme weather events like heatwaves and floods, according to UN humanitarian director Martin Griffiths.
The impact is felt most severely in nations that are already struggling with poverty, conflict, and starvation.
At COP27, IFRC Secretary-General Jagan Chapagain encouraged nations to spend money on climate change adaptation and mitigation in the most vulnerable areas.
In order to lessen the effects of intense heatwaves, OCHA and the IFRC proposed five primary actions, including early information to assist people and authorities react in time and finding innovative methods to finance local-level action.
Additionally, they involved testing additional “thermally-appropriate” emergency shelters and “cooling centres,” as well as convincing towns to adjust their growth plans to account for the effects that high heat may have.
