Entire regions will become uninhabitable over the next few decades due to heat waves that will be more frequent and intense due to climate change. The United Nations and the Red Cross warned about this in a joint report on Monday. The warning comes less than a month from the COP27 climate summit in Egypt.
The report calls for better preparations for future heat waves in order to limit the number of deaths.
There are limits to the heat and high humidity that a human body can tolerate. And the adaptability of society also comes up against limits, it sounds like. “Based on current evolution, the heatwaves in the next few decades would exceed these physiological and social limits, particularly in areas such as the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and in South Asia,” the report said. “This results in human suffering and death on a large scale. Migration and inequality will also increase.” The urbanization and aging of the population make the number of potential victims even greater.
Heat waves are already the deadliest weather phenomenon, it says. They kill thousands every year. In recent history, the 2003 hit wave in Europe, with more than 70,000 deaths, was particularly catastrophic, and the 2010 hit wave in Russia, which killed 55,000.
By the end of this century, heat waves would kill as many as all cancers combined, the researchers say. Heat is also a “silent killer”, which poses enormous challenges to society. The UN and the Red Cross are calling for urgent investment in measures to mitigate the impact of climate change and support the most vulnerable populations.
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