Extreme heat summit to urge leaders to act on
threat from rising temperatures
IFRC and USAid staging conference to draw attention to
risks and share best practice in disaster alerts and response
Jonathan
Watts
Wed 27 Mar
2024 11.37 GMT
Two of the
world’s biggest aid agencies will host an inaugural global summit on extreme
heat on Thursday as directors warn that the climate crisis is dramatically
increasing the probability of a mass-fatality heat disaster.
The
conference will highlight some of the pioneering work being done, from
tree-planting projects to the development of reflective roof coverings that
reduce indoor temperatures.
After last
year’s record-shattering temperatures, when 3.8 billion people – half the
world’s population – sweltered in extreme heat for at least one day, the
organisers hope the event will prompt governments to prepare for a “silent
killer” that rarely gets the attention it deserves when compared with
hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes.
The
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the
United States Agency for International Development (USAid) have come together
to stage this virtual conference, in which they will urge national governments,
local authorities, humanitarian groups, companies, school and hospitals to
develop heat action plans.
They will
float the idea of naming heatwaves in the same way that typhoons or hurricanes
are labelled to make them more prominent.
Jagan
Chapagain, the IFRC secretary general, drew comparisons to Kim Stanley
Robinson’s apocalyptic novel Ministry for the Future, which opens with a deadly
heatwave in India that kills millions of people, some of whom are poached alive
in a lake they hoped to cool off in.
“It is, for
now, science fiction,” he said. “We’re not there, yet. But extreme heat, far
less visually dramatic than hurricanes or floods, is claiming lives and
livelihoods with a stealth which belies its impact. Climate change is
dramatically increasing the probability that we will see a mass-fatality
extreme heat disaster soon.”
Chapagan
said heat was already a major cause of suffering in many parts of the world. In
the US it accounts for more deaths than all other climate impacts put together,
but this often goes unreported because it is usually less sudden, less visual,
than events such as hurricanes, and the scale of fatalities can take months or
years to calculate.
These types
of disaster are starting to appear on the IFRC radar. The organisation’s
40-year-old Disaster Response Emergency Fund received its first appeal for a
heatwave in 2018, from North Korea. The next came in 2021 from Vietnam, then
two the following year (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), followed by three last year
(Greece, Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan). In that period, the amount the fund
provided to heatwave appeals rose more than fivefold.
While the
sums are still relatively small compared with more traditional humanitarian
responses for earthquakes and cyclone disasters, heatwave risks are projected
to increase rapidly in the coming decades.
The death
toll from heat-related illnesses is forecast to soar more than fourfold by
midcentury if temperatures rise by 2C, according to a recent study in the
Lancet. A separate study predicted that China alone is on track to see between
20,000 and 80,000 heatwave deaths a year.
A
temperature reading in Toulouse in August 2023. France estimated it had 5,000
heat-related deaths last year. Photograph: Alain Pitton/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
One of the
primary goals of the heat summit is to improve data collection, which is
currently done on a piecemeal basis, often using different standards from
country to country.
Last year,
France estimated it had 5,000 heat-related deaths, Germany 3,000 and the UK
2,295. Yet far more populous countries in Asia reported much lower tolls,
despite higher temperatures and lower public investment in healthcare. India
registered 179 heat-related deaths, Pakistan 22 and Malaysia and Thailand two
each.
A higgledy
piggledy approach has led to some strange statistical anomalies. According to
the World Health Organization, there were 166,000 deaths due to heatwaves
between 1998 and 2017, about half of which were in Europe, despite the fact
that Europe has less than a tenth of the world population, some of the best
healthcare systems and relatively low average temperatures.
In reality,
there is no doubt that the most heat-vulnerable people live in poorer, hotter
countries. Most at risk are the elderly, sick and those who work outside or
live in poorly-ventilated homes without air conditioning. This week’s summit
aims to draw more attention to their plight and to best practice in disaster
alerts and response. In many cases, cities are leading the way.
Freetown in
Sierra Leone is one of the pioneers. Its mayor, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, who will
speak at this week’s summit, has appointed a heat officer to draw up and
administer an action plan. This includes heatmapping the city to identify the
highest-risk areas, sending out temperature forecasts by WhatsApp groups, the
installation of shades over outdoor markets and the creation of 24 “cool
corridors” by 2030 through a tree planting campaign.
The city is
also hosting a pilot programme in the shantytowns where 45% of the population
live, coating corrugated iron roofs with a mirrored film that can reflect the
sun’s energy away from the building below. Initial tests suggest this can
reduce temperatures inside by as much as 6C.
This work
has not always been easy. The market shades were ripped away in fierce storms
and have to be replaced with a more durable material. Funding has also been
difficult, but Aki-Sawyerr said residents were happy to have more protection
from the heat. “We have to be innovative. Many of these things haven’t been
done before,” she said.
Red Cross
and Red Crescent societies in other countries are also putting more effort into
heatwave preparedness. Before a recent heatwave in Hanoi, volunteers parked
mobile “cooling buses” – offering air conditioning, cool water and a shaded
place to sit – in areas frequented by street vendors, motorcycle riders and
other outdoor workers.
In Nepal,
where temperatures in the southern lowlands often exceed 45C and humidity can
be high, volunteers are encouraging meteorologists to improve early warning
systems, municipalities to create “cool shelters” in the hottest areas, and
hospitals to prepare for the health impacts during periods of high
temperatures.
Educational
establishments are a particular focus. Last year, authorities in the Terai
region, which is usually the hottest in the country, closed schools for several
days so children would not have to walk outside during a heatwave.
“The youth
understand the issues. We are trying to mobilise them and encourage each school
and campus to have a heat action plan,” said Sagar Shrestha, the director of
disaster management at the Nepal Red Cross Society.
Among the
speakers at the heat summit will be John Podesta, who was recently appointed as
the top US climate diplomat, replacing John Kerry.
The meeting
will launch an online “extreme heat global action centre” where local leaders
and governments can share tips on how to improve the resilience of cities,
companies and communities.
It will
also kick off a two-month global campaign to raise awareness, culminating in a
Heat Action Day on 2 June.
In future,
the IFRC aims to put in place heatwave disaster kits, prevention plans and
rapid response guidelines such as those it now has for other disasters.
“We are not
there yet,” Chapagain said. “We don’t have the standardised response that we
have for other crises. This is an area where the humanitarian community hasn’t
paid enough attention.”
But he
expressed confidence that preparedness would improve. Referring back to the
horrors described in Ministry for the Future, he said: “Science fiction is
deliberately scary. Reality need not be. With the right anticipation and
action, the very worst scenarios can remain in the realm of imagination.”
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário