- Freepik
VIVA – Around two billion people will live in dangerously hot conditions by the end of this century if climate change and global warming continue at its current rate, according to new research published in the journal Nature Sustainability.
The figure represents 23% of the projected global population. If the climate warms more drastically, about 3.3 billion people could face extreme temperatures by the end of the century.
The study, led by scientists at the United Kingdom University of Exeter and Nanjing University in China, found that 60 million people have been exposed to dangerous levels of heat, characterized by average temperatures of 29 degrees Celsius or higher.
Ilustrasi cuaca panas.
- Pixabay
Extreme heat can cause a range of illnesses and deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
These include heatstroke and hyperthermia. Extreme temperatures also exacerbate chronic conditions and indirectly impact disease transmission, air quality and critical infrastructure.
The elderly, infants and children, pregnant women, outdoor and manual workers, athletes and the poor are particularly vulnerable to higher temperatures.
Limiting warming to the Paris agreement's lower target of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, would still expose 400 million people to dangerous levels of heat by the end of the century, the study found.
People living in India, Sudan and Nigeria would all be severely affected by even 1.5 degrees of global warming, but 2.7 degrees would have a major impact on countries like the Philippines, Pakistan and Nigeria.
The researchers say their study breaks the trend of modeling climate impacts in economic rather than human terms
"It always distorts the value of human life and goes to the center of wealth," said Ashish Ghadiali, a climate activist and one of the paper's authors.
"It basically affects my life more than my children's life and certainly more than my grandchildren's life," Ghadiali added.
Looking at each country's impact on dangerous heat levels, the researchers found that it is the current emissions from an average of 1.2 citizens that are setting up future humans to live in extreme heat.
