Investment In Green Technology Crucial To Lessening Global Warming’s Impact

News Desk

Rawalpindi: The National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS) scientific journal highlighted the urgent need for investment in cutting-edge green technology and the inclusion of climate education in curricula for reducing the impact of global warming, which is endangering human health, particularly that of marginalised people.

In its latest editorial NUMS’ “Life and Science”, an internationally-recognized academic journal, said, “The footprint of climate change is becoming more extreme in South Asia; India, Pakistan and the Philippines” which are in the “high bracket” of the vulnerability assessment, as reported by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Recent significant rains and flooding in Pakistan, a country that makes a very small contribution to climate change, caused the loss of life and livelihood. According to the report, changes in air quality, natural disasters, and vector ecology brought on by extreme weather have a detrimental effect on human health.

Heatstroke, unfavourable pregnancy outcomes (including premature birth), acute renal injury, disrupted sleep patterns, mental health issues, malignancies, and exacerbation of existing respiratory and heart disorders are all linked to human exposure to extreme heat; stated the editorial.

Life and Science, already added to Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) Journal Recognition System (HJRS), said catering to the needs of the disaster-affected population remained “a key challenge in terms of resource constraints, afflicted health systems, changing disease burden, the provision of shelter and emergency relief items, delivering lifesaving and livelihood assistance, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) needs, prevention of disease outbreaks, addressing malnutrition, gender-based violence (GBV), psychosocial support (PSS), dignified protection, and family tracing.”

According to the editorial, climate hazards were increasing the burden on health services, already impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, co-epidemics (e.g., human immunodeficiency virus and tuberculosis) and the double burden of disease (communicable and non-communicable diseases).

The recent 2022 UN Conference of the Parties (COP27) in itsSharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan has decided to provide “loss and damage” funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters.

The Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris agreed to a 1.5-degree climate target, but with the global mean surface temperature expected to rise to a dangerous level between 1.5 – 3.5 °C by the end of this century, the target seems far away. The past seven years have been recorded as the warmest.

The most vulnerable and outcast individuals, such as the elderly, expectant mothers, newborn children, those who are socially isolated, and those who work outside, are impacted by climatic stressors, according to the report.