A study assured that unless action is taken, the environmental related deaths in South-East Asia will increase by 12.7%

The International Community is aware of the consequences of climate change. A study revealed that pollution is killing 9 million people per year. However, a recent research also assured that this death toll can increase by the end of the century.

 “climate change may be more dramatic among warmer and more populated areas of the planet” 

Some of the most affected regions will be South America. According to the research published in The Lancet Planetary Health, if no action is taken by 2090-2099, mortality rates could rise 4.6% in said region.

The publication compared the potential temperature related health impact of climate change and assured that if the temperature rises, the death rates during the hot weather season will increase. The study revealed that the areas in most danger are those located within warmer regions.  

Antonio Gasparrini, lead author of the research, assured that “the study demonstrates that climate change may be more dramatic among warmer and more populated areas of the planet and in some cases disproportionately affect poorer regions of the world”. In South-East Asia, the projected death toll is 12.7% higher and 6.4% in Southern Europe.

This is considered the “largest study to date of the potential temperature-related health impacts of climate change”.

According to Antonio Gasparrini, Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, “Climate change is now widely recognized as the biggest global threat of the 21st century. Although previous studies have shown a potential rise in heat-related mortality, little was known about the extent to which this increase would be balanced by a reduction in cold-related deaths. In addition, effects tend to vary across regions, depending on local climate and other characteristics, making global comparisons very difficult”.

The research compared heat and cold related mortality across 451 locations around the world. It used data from 85 million deaths between 1984 and 2015 from different climates, socioeconomic, and demographic realities. Gasparrini explained, “the good news, is that if we take action to reduce global warming, for instance by complying with the thresholds set by the Paris Agreement, this impact will be much lower”.

Latin American Post | Santiago Gómez Hernández

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