extreme heat - The African Mirror

Dec

2023

Climate action for Africa in 2023: three big developments

2023 is highly likely to be the hottest year ever recorded. And climate change is to blame for one-quarter of the global population being exposed to dangerous levels of extreme heat. We need signs that countries are taking steps to address this. Specifically, we need climate action that helps us adapt and that cuts greenhouse gas emissions, if we want to minimise the escalating losses and damages from climate change. NICHOLAS P. SIMPSON, Senior Research Fellow, Climate and Sustainability, ODI, Overseas Development Institute This year, there were three developments across Africa which highlight a mix of progress, priorities and potential…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Climate risks to health set to worsen inequity, harm children

NEWS

LAURIE GOERING RISING global health risks driven by climate change will hit the poorest, most vulnerable people the hardest - and failure to prepare for those threats will mean more deaths and suffering, according to a leading environmental health scientist. From impoverished families living in flood-prone homes to women whose cultures require them to stay covered in extreme heat, climate impacts on health have "a strong equity component", said Kristie Ebi, a professor at the University of Washington's Center for Health and the Global Environment. Besides hiking dangers from deadly heat and spreading diseases, climate change will fuel a rise…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Extreme heat is a threat to lives in Africa, but it’s not being monitored

ENVIRONMENT

EXTREME heat is a serious hazard to people’s health. It affects the cardiovascular system and is particularly dangerous for the elderly and people with pre-existing health conditions. LUKE HARRINGTON, Postdoctoral researcher in Climate Extremes, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford FRIEDERIKE OTTO, Associate Director, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford Recent research has found that since the 1950s, extreme heat has become more frequent and severe, and lasted longer, in nearly all regions of the world. The biggest increases have been seen in the Middle East, South America and parts of Africa. Because societies in different parts of the world…