The Lancet Countdown: health at the mercy of fossil fuels
Publication year
Resource type
UNCCD Library
Material Type
report
Published annually, the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change is an international, multidisciplinary collaboration, dedicated to monitoring the evolving health profile of climate change, and providing an independent assessment of the delivery of commitments made by governments worldwide under the Paris Agreement. All content on this page is either Open Access or has been made free to read with registration.
The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change was established to provide an independent, global monitoring system dedicated to tracking the health dimensions of the impacts of, and the response to, climate change.
The health of people around the world is at the mercy of a persistent fossil fuel addiction.
People around the world are increasingly feeling the impact of climate change on their health and wellbeing and these compounding crises are amplifying those harms. Yet governments and companies in both high- and low-income countries continue to prioritise fossil fuel interests.
This year’s report launches as countries and health systems grapple with the health, social and economic implications of climate change, which now compound the impacts of the the global energy crisis, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Our 2022 Report tracks the relationship between health and climate change across five key domains and 43 indicators, revealing that the world is at a critical juncture.
While a renewed overreliance on fossil fuels could lock in a fatally warmer future with exacerbated health impacts, a health-centred, low-carbon response offers a renewed opportunity to deliver a future in which world populations can not only survive, but thrive.
KEY MESSAGE
A persistent fossil fuel addiction is amplifying the health impacts of climate change, and compounding the concurrent energy, cost-of-living, food, and COVID-19 crises we face.
Climate change is exacerbating food insecurity, health impacts from extreme heat, the risk of infectious disease outbreaks, and life-threatening extreme weather events.
The delay in the adoption of clean energies has left households dependent on dirty fuels, vulnerable to energy poverty, and exposed to dangerous levels of fuel-derived air pollution.
These impacts are compounding with today’s multiple, concurrent crises.
The 44 indicators of the report, published in October 2021, expose an unabated rise in the health impacts of climate change, and a delayed and inconsistent response of countries around the world. The imperative is clear for accelerated action putting the health of people and planet above all else.
The focus is on:
*Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health
*Human health: impacts, adaptation, and co-benefits.
*Better growth, better climate: the new climate economy report. The synthesis report
*Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health.
*The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change.
*Managing vulnerability to drought and enhancing livelihood resilience in sub-Saharan Africa: technological, institutional and policy options.
*Understanding: the drought phenomenon: the role of definitions
Prolonged drought remains one of the most dangerous environmental determinants of premature mortality, resulting in reduced crop yields, food insecurity, an malnutrition (which in turn leads to life-long stunting, wasting, and eventually death when experienced by young children).3 The spread of water-borne disease, reduced availability of potable water, and migration as a result of reductions in arable and habitable land often compound to further wear away at the resilient capacity of populations.
Indicator 1.2.2: drought—headline finding: in 2020, up to 19% of the global land surface was affected by extreme drought in any given month
Climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity, and duration of drought events. These changes pose threats to water security, sanitation, and food productivity and increase the risk of wildfires and exposure of the environment to pollutants.
This indicator tracks the land area affected by extreme drought events using the standardised precipitation-evapotranspiration index (extreme drought ≤1·6 and exceptional drought ≤2, in alignment with the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss), capturing the changes in precipitation and the effect of temperature on evaporation and moisture loss. More details abo ut this indicator are provided in appendix 5 (pp 25–27).
The global land surface area affected by extreme drought conditions has consistently increased since 1990. The proportion of the world's land surface with extreme drought in any given month reached a maximum of 22% in 2010–19; a value that had only reached 13% in 1950–99 (figure 7).
Furthermore, the 5 years with the most area affected by extreme drought have all occurred since 2015, and the Horn of Africa, a region impacted by recurrent extreme droughts and food insecurity,was one of the most affected areas in 2020.
The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change was established to provide an independent, global monitoring system dedicated to tracking the health dimensions of the impacts of, and the response to, climate change.
The health of people around the world is at the mercy of a persistent fossil fuel addiction.
People around the world are increasingly feeling the impact of climate change on their health and wellbeing and these compounding crises are amplifying those harms. Yet governments and companies in both high- and low-income countries continue to prioritise fossil fuel interests.
This year’s report launches as countries and health systems grapple with the health, social and economic implications of climate change, which now compound the impacts of the the global energy crisis, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Our 2022 Report tracks the relationship between health and climate change across five key domains and 43 indicators, revealing that the world is at a critical juncture.
While a renewed overreliance on fossil fuels could lock in a fatally warmer future with exacerbated health impacts, a health-centred, low-carbon response offers a renewed opportunity to deliver a future in which world populations can not only survive, but thrive.
KEY MESSAGE
A persistent fossil fuel addiction is amplifying the health impacts of climate change, and compounding the concurrent energy, cost-of-living, food, and COVID-19 crises we face.
Climate change is exacerbating food insecurity, health impacts from extreme heat, the risk of infectious disease outbreaks, and life-threatening extreme weather events.
The delay in the adoption of clean energies has left households dependent on dirty fuels, vulnerable to energy poverty, and exposed to dangerous levels of fuel-derived air pollution.
These impacts are compounding with today’s multiple, concurrent crises.
The 44 indicators of the report, published in October 2021, expose an unabated rise in the health impacts of climate change, and a delayed and inconsistent response of countries around the world. The imperative is clear for accelerated action putting the health of people and planet above all else.
The focus is on:
*Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health
*Human health: impacts, adaptation, and co-benefits.
*Better growth, better climate: the new climate economy report. The synthesis report
*Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health.
*The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change.
*Managing vulnerability to drought and enhancing livelihood resilience in sub-Saharan Africa: technological, institutional and policy options.
*Understanding: the drought phenomenon: the role of definitions
Prolonged drought remains one of the most dangerous environmental determinants of premature mortality, resulting in reduced crop yields, food insecurity, an malnutrition (which in turn leads to life-long stunting, wasting, and eventually death when experienced by young children).3 The spread of water-borne disease, reduced availability of potable water, and migration as a result of reductions in arable and habitable land often compound to further wear away at the resilient capacity of populations.
Indicator 1.2.2: drought—headline finding: in 2020, up to 19% of the global land surface was affected by extreme drought in any given month
Climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity, and duration of drought events. These changes pose threats to water security, sanitation, and food productivity and increase the risk of wildfires and exposure of the environment to pollutants.
This indicator tracks the land area affected by extreme drought events using the standardised precipitation-evapotranspiration index (extreme drought ≤1·6 and exceptional drought ≤2, in alignment with the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss), capturing the changes in precipitation and the effect of temperature on evaporation and moisture loss. More details abo ut this indicator are provided in appendix 5 (pp 25–27).
The global land surface area affected by extreme drought conditions has consistently increased since 1990. The proportion of the world's land surface with extreme drought in any given month reached a maximum of 22% in 2010–19; a value that had only reached 13% in 1950–99 (figure 7).
Furthermore, the 5 years with the most area affected by extreme drought have all occurred since 2015, and the Horn of Africa, a region impacted by recurrent extreme droughts and food insecurity,was one of the most affected areas in 2020.
Keywords
health hazards
human health impacts
drought
floods
resilience
facts and figures
drought indicators
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