Understanding climate change from a local context and anticipating impacts on human lives – Introduction

Global warming increases the frequency and intensity of severe weather events that can seriously damage the health and well-being of people who are exposed to them. Higher temperatures are causing severe heat waves, storms, heavy rainfall and rising sea levels. Drought and heat waves affect both agriculture and livestock rearing because they create water shortages, which leads to crops drying up and a lack of fodder for livestock. Storms and heavy rainfall can destroy standing crops, cause loss of life and displace people. Rising sea levels cause land loss, displace people and destroy people’s livelihoods. Agricultural production is also affected, as climate change can kill natural pollinators, increase the number of pests and introduce new pests, disease-carrying vectors and invasive species.

While severe weather affects everyone around the world, poorer communities who lack access to resources that could help them adapt to the impacts are affected the most. In addition, poor communities are generally at the forefront of natural disasters as they live in environmentally fragile areas most of the time. Communities that are already vulnerable do not have the resilience or the resources to manage their health or living conditions.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit, you will be able to:

• describe the impacts of severe weather — for example, heat waves, storms, rains and rising sea levels — on human lives and livelihoods, health and well-being, by exploring these topics:
  • Severe weather: Heat waves, storms, rains and sea level rise – impact on health and wellness
  • Severe weather affects people’s livelihoods

Terminology

Pollinators:  Something that carries pollen from one plant or part of a plant to another so that the plant can reproduce (e.g., bees).

Vector:  A living thing that carries an infectious pathogen (disease) to another living thing and infects it.

Pathogen:  An organism that causes disease.

Ambient temperature:  Temperature of the air surrounding us.

Mortality:  Number of deaths that occur in a population.

Morbidity:  Having a disease, or a symptom of a disease. The amount of a disease in a certain population.