Statement by WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan
Last year marked a turning point in the debate on climate change. The scientific evidence continues to mount. The climate is changing, the effects are already being felt, and human activities are a principal cause.
In selecting climate change as the theme for this year’s World Health Day, WHO aims to turn the attention of policy-makers to some compelling evidence from the health sector. While the reality of climate change can no longer be doubted, the magnitude of consequences, and -- most especially for health -- can still be reduced. Consideration of the health impact of climate change can help political leaders move with appropriate urgency.
The core concern is succinctly stated: climate change endangers health in fundamental ways.
The warming of the planet will be gradual, but the effects of extreme weather events – more storms, floods, droughts and heatwaves – will be abrupt and acutely felt. Both trends can affect some of the most fundamental determinants of health: air, water, food, shelter, and freedom from disease.
Although climate change is a global phenomenon, its consequences will not be evenly distributed. Scientists agree that developing countries and small island nations will be the first and hardest hit.
WHO has identified five major health consequences of climate change.
First, the agricultural sector is extremely sensitive to climate variability. Rising temperatures and more frequent droughts and floods can compromise food security. Increases in malnutrition are expected to be especially severe in countries where large populations depend on rain-fed subsistence farming. Malnutrition, much of it caused by periodic droughts, is already responsible for an estimated 3.5 million deaths each year.
Second, more frequent extreme weather events mean more potential deaths and injuries caused by storms and floods. In addition, flooding can be followed by outbreaks of diseases, such as cholera, especially when water and sanitation services are damaged or destroyed. Storms and floods are already among the most frequent and deadly forms of natural disasters.
Third, both scarcities of water, which is essential for hygiene, and excess water due to more frequent and torrential rainfall will increase the burden of diarrhoeal disease, which is spread through contaminated food and water. Diarrhoeal disease is already the second leading infectious cause of childhood mortality and accounts for a total of approximately 1.8 million deaths each year.
Fourth, heatwaves, especially in urban “heat islands”, can directly increase morbidity and mortality, mainly in elderly people with cardiovascular or respiratory disease. Apart from heatwaves, higher temperatures can increase ground-level ozone and hasten the onset of the pollen season, contributing to asthma attacks.
Finally, changing temperatures and patterns of rainfall are expected to alter the geographical distribution of insect vectors that spread infectious diseases. Of these diseases, malaria and dengue are of greatest public health concern.
In short, climate change can affect problems that are already huge, largely concentrated in the developing world, and difficult to combat. On this World Health Day, I am announcing increased WHO efforts to respond to these challenges. WHO and its partners are devising a research agenda to get better estimates of the scale and nature of health vulnerability and to identify strategies and tools for health protection. WHO recognizes the urgent need to support countries in devising ways to cope. Better systems for surveillance and forecasting, and stronger basic health services, can offer health protection.
Citizens, too, need to be fully informed of the health issues. In the end, it is their concerns that can spur policy-makers to take the right actions, urgently.
Statement by WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan
Last year marked a turning point in the debate on climate change. The scientific evidence continues to mount. The climate is changing, the effects are already being felt, and human activities are a principal cause.
In selecting climate change as the theme for this year’s World Health Day, WHO aims to turn the attention of policy-makers to some compelling evidence from the health sector. While the reality of climate change can no longer be doubted, the magnitude of consequences, and -- most especially for health -- can still be reduced. Consideration of the health impact of climate change can help political leaders move with appropriate urgency.
The core concern is succinctly stated: climate change endangers health in fundamental ways.
The warming of the planet will be gradual, but the effects of extreme weather events – more storms, floods, droughts and heatwaves – will be abrupt and acutely felt. Both trends can affect some of the most fundamental determinants of health: air, water, food, shelter, and freedom from disease.
Although climate change is a global phenomenon, its consequences will not be evenly distributed. Scientists agree that developing countries and small island nations will be the first and hardest hit.
WHO has identified five major health consequences of climate change.
First, the agricultural sector is extremely sensitive to climate variability. Rising temperatures and more frequent droughts and floods can compromise food security. Increases in malnutrition are expected to be especially severe in countries where large populations depend on rain-fed subsistence farming. Malnutrition, much of it caused by periodic droughts, is already responsible for an estimated 3.5 million deaths each year.
Second, more frequent extreme weather events mean more potential deaths and injuries caused by storms and floods. In addition, flooding can be followed by outbreaks of diseases, such as cholera, especially when water and sanitation services are damaged or destroyed. Storms and floods are already among the most frequent and deadly forms of natural disasters.
Third, both scarcities of water, which is essential for hygiene, and excess water due to more frequent and torrential rainfall will increase the burden of diarrhoeal disease, which is spread through contaminated food and water. Diarrhoeal disease is already the second leading infectious cause of childhood mortality and accounts for a total of approximately 1.8 million deaths each year.
Fourth, heatwaves, especially in urban “heat islands”, can directly increase morbidity and mortality, mainly in elderly people with cardiovascular or respiratory disease. Apart from heatwaves, higher temperatures can increase ground-level ozone and hasten the onset of the pollen season, contributing to asthma attacks.
Finally, changing temperatures and patterns of rainfall are expected to alter the geographical distribution of insect vectors that spread infectious diseases. Of these diseases, malaria and dengue are of greatest public health concern.
In short, climate change can affect problems that are already huge, largely concentrated in the developing world, and difficult to combat. On this World Health Day, I am announcing increased WHO efforts to respond to these challenges. WHO and its partners are devising a research agenda to get better estimates of the scale and nature of health vulnerability and to identify strategies and tools for health protection. WHO recognizes the urgent need to support countries in devising ways to cope. Better systems for surveillance and forecasting, and stronger basic health services, can offer health protection.
Citizens, too, need to be fully informed of the health issues. In the end, it is their concerns that can spur policy-makers to take the right actions, urgently.
Worry enough just to find food to eat day by day and don't have time to think of the climate change. What ever is going to happen so let it be. We don't have nothing to loose any way.
BANGKOK -- Economic damage from climate change will hit Southeast Asia harder than other regions and seriously jeopardize production of rice, the world's most important food crop, according to a report by the Asian Development Bank.
AFP A Filipino farmer in North Cotabato province inspects his rice farm after it was damaged by floods and pests, a recipe for a failed harvest. The ADB says climate change could seriously jeopardize rice production in Southeast Asia. .The report, released Monday in Bangkok, found that the total cost of lost agricultural production and other negative impacts from climate change would be equivalent to as much as 6.7% of gross domestic product in major Southeast Asian countries by the end of this century, more than double the 2.6% loss estimated for the world as a whole.
It also found that rice yields would decline by as much as 34% in Indonesia and 75% in the Philippines, while Thailand and Vietnam, among the world's biggest exporters of the food, would also experience declines.
Southeast Asia "will have to do something" to offset those losses, including making new investments to maintain agricultural production, says Juzhong Zhuang, an economist at the ADB.
The vulnerability of Southeast Asia stems largely from its geography, which includes the vast archipelago of Indonesia and other low-lying nations such as Thailand and Vietnam with long coastlines. Some 80% of the region's population and much of its economic activity are within 100 kilometers of the coast, the ADB said. Southeast Asia's economy also relies heavily on agriculture and forestry, both of which may be affected significantly by changing weather patterns.
Economists and scientists are still debating how emissions will affect climate in Asia, though generally they agree that weather patterns should become more volatile. The ADB, for its part, said it believes Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia will experience drier weather over the next several decades, with that pattern possibly reversing later in the century.
Annual mean temperatures in those countries and the Philippines could rise by as much as 4.8 degrees Celsius by 2100 compared with 1990 levels, while sea levels could increase by 70 centimeters.
Those changes, especially the higher temperatures and a rising incidence of storms, could combine to cut rice yields and otherwise damage crops, the ADB said.
In debates on global climate change, Southeast Asia has traditionally received less scrutiny than other areas because it remains a relatively small contributor to greenhouse-gas emissions, accounting for about 12% of the world's total. But the region's role as a key supplier of rice and other agricultural commodities means any negative impact on farming could have big ripple effects, driving food prices higher.
Indeed, the ADB report is only the latest in a series of papers arguing that climate changes related to emissions will reduce world food production. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has warned of increased risk of crop failures from floods and other weather changes, as well as the emergence of new pests and diseases that only flourish at specific temperatures and humidity.
Some agricultural experts believe Southeast Asia still has room to expand production of rice and other crops, especially in parts of Cambodia and Laos that have traditionally had low yields, but could be lifted by more investment in irrigation and better seed varieties. Rice prices have fallen dramatically this year after spiking in 2008, in part because some countries, including Indonesia, already have boosted production.
But many economists believe those gains will be hard to sustain in the long run without billions of dollars in new spending on farming infrastructure, and many fear a new surge in food prices could occur once the world economy recovers from its current recession and consumer demand accelerates.
Smith Dharmasaroja, a Thai meteorologist and climate-change expert, said rice farmers might be able to mitigate some damage from weather changes by improving water storage to capture more rain during wet seasons. But there will still "definitely" be
BANGKOK -- Economic damage from climate change will hit Southeast Asia harder than other regions and seriously jeopardize production of rice, the world's most important food crop, according to a report by the Asian Development Bank.
AFP A Filipino farmer in North Cotabato province inspects his rice farm after it was damaged by floods and pests, a recipe for a failed harvest. The ADB says climate change could seriously jeopardize rice production in Southeast Asia. .The report, released Monday in Bangkok, found that the total cost of lost agricultural production and other negative impacts from climate change would be equivalent to as much as 6.7% of gross domestic product in major Southeast Asian countries by the end of this century, more than double the 2.6% loss estimated for the world as a whole.
It also found that rice yields would decline by as much as 34% in Indonesia and 75% in the Philippines, while Thailand and Vietnam, among the world's biggest exporters of the food, would also experience declines.
Southeast Asia "will have to do something" to offset those losses, including making new investments to maintain agricultural production, says Juzhong Zhuang, an economist at the ADB.
The vulnerability of Southeast Asia stems largely from its geography, which includes the vast archipelago of Indonesia and other low-lying nations such as Thailand and Vietnam with long coastlines. Some 80% of the region's population and much of its economic activity are within 100 kilometers of the coast, the ADB said. Southeast Asia's economy also relies heavily on agriculture and forestry, both of which may be affected significantly by changing weather patterns.
Economists and scientists are still debating how emissions will affect climate in Asia, though generally they agree that weather patterns should become more volatile. The ADB, for its part, said it believes Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia will experience drier weather over the next several decades, with that pattern possibly reversing later in the century.
Annual mean temperatures in those countries and the Philippines could rise by as much as 4.8 degrees Celsius by 2100 compared with 1990 levels, while sea levels could increase by 70 centimeters.
Those changes, especially the higher temperatures and a rising incidence of storms, could combine to cut rice yields and otherwise damage crops, the ADB said.
In debates on global climate change, Southeast Asia has traditionally received less scrutiny than other areas because it remains a relatively small contributor to greenhouse-gas emissions, accounting for about 12% of the world's total. But the region's role as a key supplier of rice and other agricultural commodities means any negative impact on farming could have big ripple effects, driving food prices higher.
Indeed, the ADB report is only the latest in a series of papers arguing that climate changes related to emissions will reduce world food production. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has warned of increased risk of crop failures from floods and other weather changes, as well as the emergence of new pests and diseases that only flourish at specific temperatures and humidity.
Some agricultural experts believe Southeast Asia still has room to expand production of rice and other crops, especially in parts of Cambodia and Laos that have traditionally had low yields, but could be lifted by more investment in irrigation and better seed varieties. Rice prices have fallen dramatically this year after spiking in 2008, in part because some countries, including Indonesia, already have boosted production.
But many economists believe those gains will be hard to sustain in the long run without billions of dollars in new spending on farming infrastructure, and many fear a new surge in food prices could occur once the world economy recovers from its current recession and consumer demand accelerates.
Smith Dharmasaroja, a Thai meteorologist and climate-change expert, said rice farmers might be able to mitigate some damage from weather changes by improving water storage to capture more rain during wet seasons. But there will still "definitely" be
why don't stop buying the car? the gov is smart to stop importing the 2nd hand car , but new car also will become old after a few year and will pollute the air anyway, no way? poor laos to do for helping climate change?
cutting the trees seem very reasonable at the present, stop building the dam is the most important of all.
Usually the rainy season start in the end of may and first of June, let's see this year, probably the rainfall will less than normal. who knows?
why don't stop buying the car? the gov is smart to stop importing the 2nd hand car , but new car also will become old after a few year and will pollute the air anyway, no way? poor laos to do for helping climate change?
cutting the trees seem very reasonable at the present, stop building the dam is the most important of all.
Usually the rainy season start in the end of may and first of June, let's see this year, probably the rainfall will less than normal. who knows?
I told you prey hard then God might have a heart and listen to you change the climate. So you have to believe in a miracle.
why don't stop buying the car? the gov is smart to stop importing the 2nd hand car , but new car also will become old after a few year and will pollute the air anyway, no way? poor laos to do for helping climate change?
cutting the trees seem very reasonable at the present, stop building the dam is the most important of all.
Usually the rainy season start in the end of may and first of June, let's see this year, probably the rainfall will less than normal. who knows?
Tell the government stop import the cars , stop cutting down the trees and stop building the dam that cover a lot of land that kill o lot of trees and farm land .Don't have to have the college degree to know that, Idiot.
we have to preserve our natural wonders in laos like our ancient forests.
It is a little bit too late already it has been destroy for over 3 decades ,it will take about 500years to recover if we are lucky. just wait until the government chop the last tree down . And build more dam and flood all the land and kill more trees in the Jungle . Well, it time to think what would the government do next ?. No income to the country fromexport wood , no jobs because no more trees to chop down but the people still have to eat . So look at North Korea for example then Laos will be starved .
I did not said that don't you put that word in my mouth. We all know that the government chop down the trees for wood to export and is part of the Lao economy income . Also they are building the Dam which the water will cover a lot of lands in the jungle and the result of that the trees will die and the people will lose a lot of land to farms that mean no rice and other crops ( Food). So the government have to make the decision for one thing and lose the other . This the topic about climate change that the government concert about it . So I just tell you the truth. What are going to happen that is all. So the same with the mines. There are a lot of way to prevent that but don't you dare to tell the government and will they will listen to you. When they decide to do some thing do they ask the people and let the people know about it before they do and the people heard their explanation why and what benefit to people will get from the project . what is the bad side of the project to the people. I believe only the communist party made the decision then that is the final . Now the people suffer that 's all.
!00% Now the lao government care about the climate change but they are the one who have a lot to do with it as I said cutting down the trees, building the Dam that flood a big area of land that kill the big trees and farm land important a lot of cars.Now they said that they care. I understand of all those thing they did because of the economy income for the country but the people lost more then gain in the long run and worst of all these project made a lot of corruption government officer very rich and very powerful so they are going to keep building another project such mines and farm which will benefit the foreign companies and themselves.
RE;Laos government care about climate change ? What 're you talking about ? Do you think only white westhern man care about this?balony, and the reason why Laos government so quiet about this climate change .it's because they them self knew that their countries was'nt a Industrial country, they do not have industrial park like their neighbor coutry, they only have a few small westhern factories around vientiane .as matter of fact. in this region laos, vietnam,cambodia, are still more than 80% agricutural country, Am i right about this? even thailand still agricuture country, except bangkok prefecture, you know what? i've read a few comments in this page, and i did'nt see anybody mention about Gas combustion, carbon dixide,and another chemicals that release in to atmosphere, that's why the Bush administration never make the deal with kyoto summit because they examp two the most polluted countries on earth,(China, India) If you 're sensitive to the enviroment. you reduce, reuse, and recycle. Oh another thing that i would like to mention, Before Albert Gore lost a presidential election to George Bush 43rd in 2000, i've never heard about Globall worming,ok , i don't know why people around the globs so worry about this mother nature,and it's seem to me it's another Y2K panic,Right, Oh i almost forget about the Dam, i think in early 30,40, OR 50 japan built Lao a big Dam in Ban thalath,, if i don't make a mistake right, and so far this it the year 2009 i have'nt heard about anybody complain about Air pollution in Laos, so stop saying about Laos government Don't care about this and Don't care about that ,and they Don't do this and they Don't that, i know some of you might think i'm defend them,But i'm not ok, i just know they 're not perfect government , that's all,
RE;Laos government care about climate change ? What 're you talking about ? Do you think only white westhern man care about this?balony, and the reason why Laos government so quiet about this climate change .it's because they them self knew that their countries was'nt a Industrial country, they do not have industrial park like their neighbor coutry, they only have a few small westhern factories around vientiane .as matter of fact. in this region laos, vietnam,cambodia, are still more than 80% agricutural country, Am i right about this? even thailand still agricuture country, except bangkok prefecture, you know what? i've read a few comments in this page, and i did'nt see anybody mention about Gas combustion, carbon dixide,and another chemicals that release in to atmosphere, that's why the Bush administration never make the deal with kyoto summit because they examp two the most polluted countries on earth,(China, India) If you 're sensitive to the enviroment. you reduce, reuse, and recycle. Oh another thing that i would like to mention, Before Albert Gore lost a presidential election to George Bush 43rd in 2000, i've never heard about Globall worming,ok , i don't know why people around the globs so worry about this mother nature,and it's seem to me it's another Y2K panic,Right, Oh i almost forget about the Dam, i think in early 30,40, OR 50 japan built Lao a big Dam in Ban thalath,, if i don't make a mistake right, and so far this it the year 2009 i have'nt heard about anybody complain about Air pollution in Laos, so stop saying about Laos government Don't care about this and Don't care about that ,and they Don't do this and they Don't that, i know some of you might think i'm defend them,But i'm not ok, i just know they 're not perfect government , that's all,
Lao gov will call you back if you talk bad about Lao gov. go ahead. brother
