Dr. Zeeshan Khan |
Climate Change and its Impacts on Earth’s Health
Climate change has significant implications on health as rising temperatures will likely lead to increased air pollution, a longer and more intense allergy season, the spread of insect-borne diseases, more frequent and dangerous heat waves, and heavier rainstorms and flooding. All of these changes pose serious, and costly, risks to the public health. Strong scientific evidence shows that as temperatures increase, more rainfalls during the heaviest downpours, increasing the risk of flooding events.
Higher concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels are making oceans both warmer and acidic. These two effects threaten the survival of marine life. Corals, shellfish and phytoplankton, which are the basis of the food chain, are particularly at risk. Climate change affects a variety of factors associated with drought and is likely to increase drought risks in certain regions.
As temperatures have warmed, the prevalence and duration of drought has increased in the western U.S. and climate models unanimously project increased drought in the American Southwest. The resulting dry conditions will increase the pressure on groundwater supplies as more is pumped to meet demand even as less precipitation falls to replenish it.
In 1992, United Nations “Earth Summit” produced the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a first step in addressing the climate change problem.
Tens of millions of trees have died in the Rocky Mountains over the past 15 years, victims of a climate-driven triple assault of tree-killing insects, wildfires, and stress from heat and drought.
Our aging electricity infrastructure is increasingly vulnerable to the growing consequences of global warming, including rises in the sea level, heightened wildfire risk, and other water supply issues. Spring arrives much earlier than it used to — 10 days earlier on average in the northern hemisphere. Snow melts earlier. Reservoirs fill too early and water needs to be released for flood control. Vegetation and soils dry out earlier, setting the stage for longer and more damaging wildfire seasons.
Temperatures are rising in the planet’s Polar Regions, especially in the Arctic, and the vast majority of the world’s glaciers are melting faster than the new snow and ice can replenish them. Scientists expect the rate of melting to accelerate, with serious implications for future sea level rise.
Food Supply
Rising temperatures and the accompanying impacts of global warming — including more frequent heavier precipitation in some regions and more severe droughts in others— has significant implications for crop and meat production. Global warming has the potential to seriously disrupt our food supply, drive costs upward, and affects everything from coffee to cattle, from staple food crops to the garden in your backyard. A changing climate affects the range of plants and animals, changing their behavior and causing disruptions up and down the food chain. The range of some warm-weather species will expand, while those that depend on cooler environments will face shrinking habitats and potential extinction.
Read more: EU leaders fail to agree zero net carbon gas emissions by 2050
Greenhouse gases occur naturally and are essential to the survival of humans and millions of other living things, by keeping some of the sun’s warmth from reflecting back into space and making Earth livable. But after more than a century and industrialization, deforestation and large scale agriculture, quantities of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have risen to record levels not seen in three million years. As populations, economies and standards of living grow, so do the cumulative level of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions.
The Formation of the Earth Summit and Steps Taken to Combat Climate Change
In October 2018 the IPPCC issued a special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C, finding that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society, the IPCC stated in a new assessment. With clear benefits to people and natural ecosystems, the report found that limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared to 2°C could go hand in hand with ensuring a more sustainable and equitable society. This report also shows that many of the adverse impacts of climate change going to appear at the 1.5°C mark.
In 1992, United Nations “Earth Summit” produced the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a first step in addressing the climate change problem. The ultimate aim of the Convention is to prevent “dangerous” human interference with the climate system and then following Kyoto Protocol in 1995. At the 21st Conference of the Parties in Paris in 2015, Parties to the UNFCCC reached a landmark agreement to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future.
The new government of Pakistan has promised to plant 10 billion trees during its five year tenure, world leaders of governments, the private sector and civil society together must support the multilateral process
The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise of this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Where Do We Stand?
Pakistan is the 8th most affected country from climate change and has become a water-stressed country as her reservoirs can store water equivalent to 30 days of consumption, whereas the standard minimum requirement is 120 days. The heat-wave, that took more than 1,200 lives in Karachi only two years ago, has since been visiting us with greater frequency and intensity. At 50.4oC, Nawabshah in Sindh recorded in April 2018, the highest temperature ever recorded globally.
Floods and hydro-disasters since 2010 — when 20 million Pakistanis were directly affected — have become an annual feature. Riverside communities routinely get wiped away without even a mention by media. And if it is not the floods, the calamity of the drought is afflicting misery in Tharpakar and several other regions particularly in Balochistan.
Read more: Climate change and worsening water situation in Pakistan
Tree plantation is the major factor to focus. As the new government of Pakistan has promised to plant 10 billion trees during its five year tenure, world leaders of governments, the private sector and civil society together must support the multilateral process to accelerate climate action and ambition. The focus must be on key sectors where action can make the most difference—heavy industry, nature-based solutions, cities, energy, resilience, climate finance, and research and appropriate adaptation measures are required to counter the negative impacts of Climate Change.
Dr.Zeeshan Khan is a writer, analyst, doctor, educationist, human activist, blogger, certified trainer, life coach and poet. He is a motivational speaker, cultural-cum-Political Analyst and regular contributor to the Op-Ed pages of different newspapers. He is a doctor at CMH and also an alumnus Of LUMS. Twitter: @DrZeeshanKhanA1. The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.