UN warns of climate change deaths

Thursday, 11 December 2003 10:34 PM

The threat from global warming is often perceived as a problem for generations to come, but a report from the United Nations claims that climate change is already affecting human health.

Global warming, which is thought to be responsible for rising temperatures and the melting of the polar ice caps, is partly caused by so-called greenhouse gases such as the carbon dioxide given off when fossil fuels are burned by industry and motorised vehicles.

The warning comes after what was the hottest decade in recorded history at the end of the last century, and after a blistering summer this year during which 20,000 people died in Europe alone because of the record temperatures.

The report suggests that 150,000 deaths worldwide were caused by climate change in the year 2000. That figure includes deaths caused by extreme weather conditions, air pollution, and even water contamination.

Dr. Kerstin Leitner of the World Health Organisation commented: 'There is growing evidence that changes in the global climate will have profound effects on the health and well-being of citizens in countries throughout the world."

The report, which has been presented at a UN environment conference in Milan today, also aims to give positive advice about how the international community needs to respond to the problem.

However, some scientists were unconvinced by what they perceived to be tenuous links between climate change and diseases such as malaria and diarrhoea, while others stressed that the global death toll was a relatively low proportion of the 56 deaths worldwide each year.

Tags: