This is nothing new: global warming is a serious threat to the survival of all species on earth and now, thanks to research that has examined heat deaths, or partly caused by heat, between 1991 and 2018 in 43 countries , we have the first evidence of the direct effects of the phenomenon on our health. How many people have died from heat due to climate change?
Climate change, how many deaths from heat in summer has it caused?
The researchers found that 37% of all heat-related deaths in summers in recent years have occurred due to climate change . The highest legal death rates in the heat were found in South America and Southeast Asia.
Ecuador, Colombia, are some of the countries where 76% of these deaths have been reached. Santiago de Chile and New York also registered similar data, with an annual increase in heat-related deaths of 136 and 144 cases, respectively. From Spain they analyzed the situation in Madrid, accounting for 177 deaths (32%).
The team of researchers obviously tried to distinguish heat-related deaths caused by climate change from other factors. Subsequently, scenarios with hot weather conditions not caused by anthropogenic climate change (therefore caused by man) were examined, in this way it was possible to deduce the additional impact of the climate crisis.
“ The heat-related death rate will surely continue to rise if we don’t do something to tackle climate change. Currently, the average global temperature has increased by around 1 ° C, so we can only imagine what will happen if emissions continue to increase and grow out of control, “wrote in a press release the doctor and lead author of the study Ana M Vicedo-Cabrera, from the University of Bern.
The team acknowledges that while the study provides important information, it has limitations. The data analyzed included only a small number of countries , and the researchers had a limited amount of data for large areas such as Africa and South Asia.
” This is the largest study of detection and attribution of current health risks caused by climate change, ” said Professor Antonio Gasparrini of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a co-author of the study. “ The message is clear: not only will climate change have devastating impacts in the future, but all continents are already experiencing the dire consequences of human activities on our planet. We must act now .
The situation is very dangerous, as the UN secretary also recalled, it is necessary for humanity to realize the risk it runs.
