2023-11-14 23:30:10
The number of people over 65 who have died from heat has increased by 85% since the early 1990s; if climate change did not occur, this increase would have been only 38%. In 2021, compared to the period 1981-2010, 127 million additional people across the planet declared themselves food insecure, an increase directly correlated with the increase in heat waves and dry months.
These indicators are among the most alarming identified in the 2023 Lancet Countdown report, resulting from the work of 114 experts from 52 countries and United Nations (UN) agencies, devoted to the past and future impacts of climate change on health. , which is due to be published on Wednesday November 15 by the British medical journal The Lancet.
Another lesson is that the number of working hours lost due to extreme temperatures increased by 42% between the years 1990 and 2022. According to The Lancetthis represents a shortfall of 863 billion dollars (808 billion euros) for 2022. In countries with the lowest development indices, agriculture represents 82% of lost working time.
“Domestic air pollution”
The area of land affected by extreme drought has increased by 29% since the 1950s, the report notes. “This threatens our water security, our food security and obviously sanitation networks, with a major impact on the health of populations, particularly in areas such as the Horn of Africa,” said Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet Countdown and researcher at University College London, presenting the report to the press on November 9.
Some 92% of households in the poorest countries, and 66% in middle-income countries, still rely on biomass combustion to meet their energy needs, “leading to incredibly high levels of household air pollution”according to Mme Romanello. In 62 countries studied, indoor air pollution caused 140 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2022. Outdoor combustion led to 1.2 million deaths last year – down slightly since 2005 (1.4 million).
The most developed countries are not immune. In the United States, the favorable season for the transmission of parasites responsible for malaria has lengthened by more than a third since the 1950s. In the Netherlands, babies under 1 year old have suffered 40% of days of more heat wave between 2013 and 2022 compared to children of the same age during the years 1990-2000. The portion of Japanese coastline favorable to the development of bacteria that can cause diseases such as cholera has increased by 20% compared to the period 1982-2010, and now extends over 400 kilometers.
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