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 Air pollution and health
Climate change could well alter the rate of chemical reactions in the atmosphere that
destroy pollutants, or influence the factors such as wind and precipitation that regulate
how pollutants accumulate or disperse. For example, higher temperatures favour the
formation of pollutants like ground-level ozone — the main constituent of smog.
Higher temperatures would also increase the evaporation of volatile liquids such as
gasoline or organic solvents, again adding to the urban smog problem.32
Children are at higher risk from such increases than adults because their lungs are still
developing and they spend more time outdoors in summer when ozone levels are higher.33
Although uncertainties remain, it is likely that an increase in global temperatures would
worsen urban air quality problems by increasing the number of nonattainment areas (areas
that do not meet the US Environmental Protection Agency health-based standards),
increasing the rate of natural emissions of hydrocarbons, and increasing the formation of
acidic material such as sulphates. Aerosols, particles of a millionth of a centimetre
in diameter and consisting of sulphates, soot, organic carbon and mineral dust, affect not
only agricultural yield but also exacerbate asthma. The size and toxicity of aerosols and
the concentration levels to which people are exposed determines the degree of harm that
they cause. Dust particles as large as 10 microgrammes (mg) are known to deposit in the
lung airways, causing bronchial airway constriction. Particles up to 4 mg once inhaled,
penetrate into the gas-exchange region of the lungs and hamper the smooth functioning of
the lungs. Even particles less than 2.5 mg can move past the filtering mechanisms of the
lungs, introducing infection directly to the lung tissue.34 According to the Central Pollution
Control Board (CPCB), New Delhi, the nearly 42,000 tonnes of invisible pollutants released
into the air is responsible for about 2.5 million premature deaths annually in India.35
In China, it is the increased amounts of soot that is responsible for both, the flooding
and the increasing droughts in the northern regions.36
Specific adaptation strategies |
| Impact |
Adaptation strategy |
| Extreme weather conditions |
Proper urban planning
Planning laws
Early warning systems |
| Air quality |
Health education
Improved public transport systems
Stricter emission controls
Better traffic planning
Timely pollution warnings Carpooling |
| Vector-born diseases |
Vaccination
Usage of impregnated bednets Vector control measures Continuous surveillance strategies
Prevention and control programmes
Health education
Water storage practices
Personal hygiene |
| Water-born diseases |
Water-borne diseases
Water quality regulation
Rainwater harvesting
Washing hands and personal hygiene
Health education
Improved sanitation facilities
Usage of filters and boiling water |
| Source:
Adapted from IPCC- Third Assessment Report 2001, Climate change 2001 impacts,
adaptation, and vulnerability, Contribution of working group II to the Third Assessment
Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, p 475. |
Besides asthma, rising levels of carbon dioxide have been
found to worsen allergies. Research has shown that ragweed produces significantly more
pollen as carbon dioxide increases. The US department of agriculture (USDA) suggests that
ragweed pollen production is likely to double over the next century with predicted
increases in carbon dioxide levels, causing an increase in allergic reactions.
Mitigating the effects
Climate change is all about sharing of world's resources. Recognising that global warming
besides having economic impacts, also has important health and environmental impacts, it
is essential to devise effective measures, which can minimise these enhanced health risks
(see box: Specific adaptation strategies).
To fight climate change, a shift to renewable energy is required. Wind power today is the
fastest growing among alternative sources of energy. Solar energy needs to be promoted so
that countries with solar technology can replace the oil producing countries as the
biggest suppliers of energy. Shifting to more fuel-efficient vehicles can help arrest
vehicular pollution levels thereby bringing down attacks of asthma and other respiratory
disorders. Power plants have to work on limiting their emission levels. Sustaining the
existing forest cover and planting new trees is another way of slowing global warming.
Water has to be protected at the source and illnesses monitored at regular intervals.
Besides education and surveillance techniques, improved warning systems will have to be
installed and effective disaster management plans laid out.
Allowing climate change to continue means inviting a
health holocaust. There is an urgent need to arrest climate change, leave alone revert it.
Since the uncertainties in climate change are pervasive, difficult to resolve and large in
magnitude they require a coordinated approach to deal with and if that does not happen,
people may very well be writing their own epitaph.
|
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10. ibid.
11. Sonu Jain 2002, This chill is welcome, no one wants ice to break,
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13. Anon 2002, Scorching
summer, in Deccan Herald, May 25.
14. Manoj Das 2002, Global study zooms in on Kochi's heat, in The
New Indian Express, Kochi, March 5.
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17. ibid.
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21. Gary Taube 1997, Apocalypse Not, in Science, Vol 278, No
5340, 7 November, p 1005.
22. Anon 2002, Hotlinks, in Down To Earth, Vol 11, No
9, published by Society for Environmental Communications, New Delhi, September 30, p 24.
23. Anon 2001, Nothing but hot gas, in G:Net, No 3, published
by Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, December.
24. Anon 2000, El Nino and health, in Down To Earth,Vol 8, No
18, published by Society for Environmental Communications, New Delhi, February 15, p 25.
25. ibid.
26. N Singh and M Nadkarni 2001, Health holocaust, in Down To
Earth, Vol 10, No 11, published by Society for Environmental Communications, New
Delhi, October 31, p 34.
27. Anon 2003, The malefactor, in Down To Earth, Vol 11, No
17, published by Society for Environmental Communications, New Delhi, January 31, p 19.
28. Anon 1999, A hot planet is bad health, in Down To Earth,
Vol 7, No 17, published by Society for Environmental Communications, New Delhi, January
31, p 22.
29. V Ramalingaswami 1996, The changing paradigms of Dengue, in
Round Table Conference Series, Dengue outbreak in Delhi: 1996, Ranbaxy Science
Foundation, New Delhi, No 1, December, p 12.
30 . Kuldip Gill et
al 1997, Dengue outbreak in Ludhiana (Punjab), India, 1996, in Dengue Bulletin,
WHO, Vol 21, December, pp 47-51.
31. Anon 2002, Lethal messenger, in Down To Earth, Vol 10, No
19, published by Society for Environmental Communications, New Delhi, February 28, p 43.
32 . Anon 1998,
Environmental change and human health, in World Resources 1998-99, New York Oxford,
Oxford University Press, pp 69-70.
33. Janice Longstreth 1999, Public health consequences of global
climate change in the United States- some regions may suffer disproportionately, in Environmental
Health Perspectives, Vol 107, Supplement 1, February, pp 171.
34. N Singh 2002, Aerial raid, in Down To Earth, Vol 11, No 6,
published by Society for Environmental Communications, New Delhi, August 15, p 37.
35. Aarti 2002, Give earth a chance, in Sentinel, June 16.
36 . Anon 2002, Black
China, in Down To Earth, Vol 11, No 11, published by Society for Environmental
Communications, New Delhi, October 31, p 20. |
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