World Bulletin
Homeless, Sick and Hungry: Climate Change Wreaks Havoc on Humans By Sue Gloor 
Haitians seek shelter after Hurricane Ike hit in September 2008. Hurricanes and other natural disasters have increased because of climate change, displacing many people across the globe. UN photo/Logan Abassi |
Nov. 18 - The environmental effects of climate change are widely known -- melting glaciers and ice caps, rising temperatures and sea levels, for example. But what is not so apparent are the effects on people in developing regions. That is because “most of us have the luxury of being blissfully unaware of how much we rely on the services that nature provides,” said Dr. Samuel Myers, a professor at Harvard Medical School, research associate at the Harvard University Center for the Environment and author of a recent report on environmental change and human health. In “Global Environmental Change: The Threat to Human Health,” published by Worldwatch Institute and the United Nations Foundation, Myers wrote that a superficial shielding of people in developed countries from environmental problems has lead to a misunderstanding about the drastic threat climate change poses to basic human needs like access to food, clean water, fresh air and secure homes.
The report, released on Nov. 4, explains how environmental changes increase the spread of infectious diseases, exacerbate food and water scarcity and initiate more natural disasters, which force people to move to areas where their immunity for local sicknesses is low and the possibility of civil conflict is high.
In an interview with UNA-USA, Myers said that “there is a clear moral imperative for the wealthy world to address the suffering that we are generating.” This imperative reinforces the paradox that though much of the climate change problem is a result of developed countries’ highly industrialized and sometimes wasteful practices, these nations have extensive infrastructure and resources to minimize the shock of environmental damage on the daily life of their populations. A Billion Displaced
Credit: Munich Re/Published in “Global Environmental Change: The Threat to Human Health” |
Vulnerable nations, by contrast, are at a “critical threshold of resource consumption,” depend mostly on local resources with little clout in global markets and lack the ability to adapt their routines to protect their populations against such changes, according to the report. They cannot, for example, protect themselves against extreme temperatures, which reduce crop yields in food-producing areas, or rising sea levels, which flood farms and freshwater sources with undrinkable saltwater. More resilient insects and organisms, already carriers of disease, are also a problem, as they have longer life spans to infect people. Human displacement means poor housing, sanitation and waste management. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees office estimates that in the next 40 years, 250 million to 1 billion people will be displaced solely because of these factors. Regarding food security, Myers wrote, international attention on developing biofuels has raided countries’ food supplies, reflecting how a solution to one problem can create devastating consequences in other areas. A multilayered plan of action is needed to address the environmental effects on human health, the report emphasized. “We’re going to need an unprecedented level of international assistance — like financial and technical assistance — to poor people in developing countries, primarily to institute the kinds of technology and infrastructure that can address these threats,” Myers said. Still, some health issues are merely the result of neglectful practices.In Cameroon, for example, deforestation has eliminated the shade necessary to keep the freshwater snail population at bay. The strong sunlit environment has made it more conducive for the snails to host parasitic worms that are dangerous to humans. In Asia and South America, altered precipitation patterns and an excess of fertilizer nutrients from rainfall runoff have led to more cholera. Reducing deforestation and synthetic fertilizer use could help alleviate these problems. In the report, Myers proposed a two-pronged plan: to advocate for mitigation of greenhouse gases using trade, technology, infrastructure, behavior change, philanthropy and governance; and to adapt countries’ actions to address the human consequences of environmental change. These threats to health, he said, are fundamentally preventable, and the question remains “whether we can mobilize the collective will in the international community to address these problems.” The point is that this report is not a “prophecy of gloom,” Myers said, but a “call to action.” Sue Gloor is an intern with UNA’s publications department and a student in the Bard College Globalization and International Affairs program. Key words:
human health, environmental change, food security, climate change, Worldwatch Institute, United Nations Foundation
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