Climate change amplifying health impacts of multiple crises, says The Lancet report ahead of COP27

  • October 26, 2022
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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Climate change amplifying health impacts of multiple crises, says The Lancet report ahead of COP27

Subject :Environment

Context-

  • Ahead of this year’s United Nations climate change conference (COP27), a major new report has said that the continued dependence on fossil fuels is compounding the health impacts of the multiple crises the world is facing — including the fallouts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the cost of living crisis, and climate change.

Latest report-

  • The 2022 report of the LancetCountdown on “health and climate change: health at the mercy of fossil fuels”.
  • The report represents the work of 99 experts from 51 institutions, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

Report findings-

  • New findings presented in the seventh annual global report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change reveal that governments and companies continue to follow strategies that increasingly threaten the health and survival of all people alive today, and of future generations.

Specific impacts on India-

climate change is affecting almost every pillar of food security:

  • The duration of the growth season for maize has decreased by 2%, compared to a 1981-2010 baseline, while rice and winter wheat have each decreased by 1%.
  • From 2012-2021, infants under one year old experienced an average of 72 million more person-days of heatwaves per year, compared to 1985-2005.
    • For the same period, adults over 65 experienced 301 million more person-days.
    • This means that, on average, from 2012-2021, each infant experienced an additional 9 heatwave days per year while adults over 65 experienced an additional 3.7 per person, compared to 1986-2021.
  • From 2000-2004 to 2017-2021, heat-related deaths increased by 55% in India.
  • In 2021, Indians lost 167.2 billion potential labour hours due to heat exposure with income losses equivalent to about 5.4% of the national GDP.
  • From 1951-1960 to 2012-2021, the number of months suitable for dengue transmission by Aedes aegypti rose by 1.69%, reaching 5.6 months each year.

About the Lancet Countdown-

  • The Lancet Countdown was established following the 2015 Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change.
  • The Lancet is also a member of the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change.
  • The annual Countdown report is published by The Lancet, following independent peer review.
  • Published annually, the Lancet Countdown is an international, multidisciplinary collaboration, dedicated to monitoring the evolving health profile of climate change, and providing an independent assessment of the delivery of commitments made by governments worldwide under the Paris Agreement.
  • The Lancet Countdown tracks 43 indicators across five key domains:
  1. climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerability;
  2. adaptation, planning, and resilience for health;
  3. mitigation actions and health co-benefits;
  4. economics and finance;
  5. public and political engagement.
  • The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change is a collaboration involving over 99 leading experts including climate scientists, engineers, economists, political scientists, public health professionals, and doctors from 51 leading academic institutions and UN agencies across the world, including the World Health Organisation, World Meteorological Organisation, World Bank, European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, and many of the world’s leading academic institutions.
  • The work of The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change is supported by the Wellcome Trust.
Climate change amplifying health impacts of multiple crises Environment