Climate change worsened disasters that caused half a million deaths: Report
The 10 deadliest extreme weather events of the previous two decades, which contributed to some 570,000 deaths, were all intensified by human-caused climate change, according to a new study from World Weather Attribution.
The events in question comprised three hurricanes, four heatwaves, two floods and a drought. Each of the events had features intensified by either climate change or its downstream effects, the study found. For example, Somalia’s 2011 drought, which contributed to 258,000 deaths, was made worse by a combination of low rainfall between March and May, as well as increased temperatures causing greater evaporation from plants and soil.
Similarly, Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, which killed 138,366 people in 2008, was exacerbated by climate change making its precipitation more intense and its wind speeds up to 5.2 miles per second more intense, as well as making sea surface temperatures up to 0.66 degrees Celsius warmer.
In Russia’s 2010 heatwave, which caused 55,736 deaths, climate change likely made temperatures 0.3 degrees to 4.3 degrees hotter, according to the researchers.
“Climate change isn’t a distant threat. It worsened extreme weather events that left more than 570,000 people dead,” Friederike Otto, co-founder and lead of World Weather Attribution at the Center for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, said in a statement. “This study should be an eye-opener for political leaders hanging on to fossil fuels that heat the planet and destroy lives. If we keep burning oil, gas and coal, the suffering will continue.”
The link between burning fossil fuels and warming temperatures has been observed since the mid-20th century, but the link between that warming and extreme weather is a more recent discovery. While climate change does not appear to actively cause more hurricanes, for example, it likely makes them more intense, and potentially deadlier, by increasing ocean surface temperatures and the level of moisture in the air.
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