Climate change is now a harsh reality. Its damaging effects on the planet and its inhabitants are real. Millions of people in least developed and developing countries have started feeling adversities emanating from climate change. The unplanned rapid industrialisation, urbanisation, worldwide excessive use of fossil fuels and deforestation without adequate reforestation are the major causes of climate change and its hostile effects on the nature. It is true that all the major causes for climate change have directly or indirectly been contributed by humans. Naturally, the humans have to face it first.
Contagious diseases are spreading menacingly due to weather extremes as heat wave, droughts, cyclones, floods and tornados, especially in least developed countries that lack adequate health care. Many scientists have already warned that millions of people would die this century because of the impacts of climate change unless major reduction in greenhouse emissions is made. According to a projection, 185 million people are expected to die from diseases to be caused by climate change just in sub-Saharan Africa unless world leaders and communities take immediate action to fight climate change.
It has become a regular news item in the world media that global temperature is abnormally fluctuating. Corn and wheat production is down and animals are migrating towards areas under cooler temperature. The warning about the climate change has been coming from various research organisations, from the UN and various geo-ecological institutions. But the response from world leaders, especially the leaders of the industrially developed countries and the business communities, is frustrating and unsatisfactory.
The mountain snow-pack in western United States is fading, lowering the country's water supply. Coral reefs, which shelter a quarter of the ocean's species, are bleaching - losing the algae that colour them, causing their death over time. Droughts and heat waves are becoming more recurrent and stronger. The number of people dying from the heat has increased in some regions, while the number of cold-related deaths has decreased. The loss of sea ice has produced bigger waves, more corrosion and the forced movement of some settlements away from the coast. There will be shifts in what kinds of crops grow best, and where and when they can be farmed, but it's unclear exactly what those transformations will be. Still, people in the poorest countries will be at even greater risk of hunger and malnutrition.
A small increase in average temperature leads to big changes in extreme weather. Small changes in averages of many key climate variables can correspond to large changes in weather. Substantial changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme events can result from a relatively small shift in distribution of temperatures, precipitation, or other climate variables.
Climate change could mean bad news for human body too. As the temperature in normally colder areas hovers around the freezing mark, precipitation is subject to more frequent freeze and thaw cycles that cause ice. That puts people at greater risk of motor vehicle accidents and falls that result in orthopedic injuries. Climate change also allows insects and other disease- carriers to migrate farther north and to higher elevations, potentially introducing diseases such as Hantavirus and Dengue fever into new areas. At highest risk of potentially life-threatening illness and death from the effects of climate change are the elderly, the very young and those with chronic conditions such as heart disease or diabetes.
High temperature increases heart risks. Extreme heat, for example, affects the circulatory system in ways that tax those who already have problems regulating blood flow. Night-time temperatures that don't drop substantially from midday highs put extra stress on the body. When humans get hot, their hearts beat faster and their bodies attempt to cool off by sweating, which calls for increased blood flow to the vessels near the skin and decreased blood flow to vessels around major organs.
As climate change has begun to see a greater number of weather extremes, state and local public health departments in western countries have started fortifying their public-health tracking systems. Urban areas pose unique hazards. To help warn residents, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has established heat health watch/warning systems in 17 metro areas across the United States, including Chicago. The NOAA plans to expand the number of heat-health warning systems to every municipality with a population of more than 500,000 people. With more carbon dioxide in the air, allergy sufferers and people with asthma also may have a hard time.
The adverse effects of climate change - especially high temperature, sea-level rise, cyclones and storm surges, salinity intrusion, heavy monsoon downpours etc. have aggravated the overall economic development scenario of Bangladesh to a great extent. Climate change and its effects are no more a prediction; it's a reality in the country. Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to climate change and global warming due to its geological and ecological location. The country has been experiencing different types of natural disasters due to global warming as well as climate change impacts. The notable impacts in the country are floods and flash floods, cyclones, storm surges, intrusion of salinity, extreme temperature and draught. Almost 80 per cent of the country is prone to flooding, south and southern parts of the country have been hit by cyclones and storms for the last few years, the costal belt along the Bay of Bengal is experiencing salinity problems and northern parts of the country is experiencing extreme heat and draught problem.
In a densely-populated country like Bangladesh, the effects of climate change on surface and ground water resources will be very alarming. Changes in water resources and hydrology will have a significant impact on the country's economy, where people mostly depend on surface water for irrigation, fishery, industrial production, navigation and similar other activities.
Long-term plan to save the country from the effects of climate changes brooks no delay. Adequate budgetary allocations and immediate action plans by using renewable energy, forestation of trees, plants, digging and excavation of rivers, canals and ponds, water reservoirs in the dry season, preparing public awareness about climate change and global warming consequences are the pressing needs of the time. The consequential costs would be much more than the money allocated for encountering climate change.
A highly-populated country like China has been experiencing the huge impacts of climate change like reduction of crop yields, pollution in big industrial cities and many more. Scientists and eco-geologists term climate change a big threat to China as well as to the world. Rampant pollution of industrial cities is also a big health risk for the inhabitants. Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate change. This situation is further worsened by its poor state of economic development and low adaptive capacity. Extreme poverty, frequent natural disasters such as droughts and floods, and heavy dependence of agriculture on rainfall further make the continents vulnerable. The recent powerful cyclone in the Vanuatu Island that devastated homesteads and plantations is a clear sign of climate change effects on the planet.
The writer is the CFO of a private group of industries. [email protected]
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