2. • Introduction
• Climate change –Definition
• Causes of climate change
• Driving forces for climate change
• Greenhouse effect
• Mechanism of climate change
• Magnitude of climate change
• Impact of climate change
• Strategies-Climate change
3. INTRODUCTION
• Climate change is a major public health challenge of the
current century.
• Particularly those who reside in lower income countries.
• It has implications on production of food, quality of water and
air, coastal settlements, and animal health.
• Leads to a spectrum of health problems lasting from few days
to life- threatening conditions like cancers.
4. • India is experiencing rapid demographic and epidemiological
transitions with rampant globalization, industrialization and
urbanization.
• All these factors with exponential growth of population make
India prone to be the victim of climate change
5. What is climate change
• According to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC), climate change is defined as change of climate that
is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alerts the
composition of the global atmosphere and that is in addition natural
climate variability observed over comparable time periods
6. Causes of climate change
Climate change
Land transformation:
• Agriculture
• Deforestation
• Construction of water
reservoirs
• Urbanization
• Mining
• Land draining
• Transportation
network building
Natural causes
Human (anthropogenic)causes
Industrial processes:
• Energy production
• Transportation
• Manufacturing
• Construction
• Waste disposal
• Petrochemical,
mineral, and food
processing
• Volcanic eruptions
• Differences in solar
irradiation
• Variations and tilt in the
orbit of earth
• Variation in sea levels
7. Driving forces for climate change
• These are the factors that drive people to engage in various
activities leading to climate change.
• Mainly there are five driving forces, such as
1. Technological advancements
2. Population growth
3. Economic development
4. Industries
5. Attitudes
8. • Soring population growth across the world has increased
requirement for energy, which is supplied by technological advances
resulting climate change
• Rapid economic growth and industrialization have lead rampant
emissions from the factories resulting in increased Carbon dioxide
concentration.
9. • Increased purchasing capacity among people has brought in
belief of luxury, comfort, and attitude of richness
• Leading to negligence of mass transport and purchase of own
cars and automobiles have further enhanced the burden
of climate
10. Greenhouse effect
• Natural process that warms the surface of earth
• When the energy from sun reaches the earth's atmosphere, a
proportion of it is reflected back to space and the rest is absorbed
by greenhouse gas (GHGs).
• With Increase in the concentration of GHGs, the larger amount of
solar energy is trapped into the atmosphere resulting in
greenhouse effect
11. Sources of greenhouse gases
Water vapour Natural
Methane Decomposition of wastes in landfills,
agriculture, ruminant digestion, and manure
management
Carbon dioxide (CO2) Respiration, volcano eruptions, deforestation
and burning of fossil fuels
Nitrous oxide Commercial and organic fertilizers, combustion
of fossil fuel, nitric acid production, and burning
of biomass
12. Mechanism of climate change
• The land transformation and industrial processes will produce
large amount of GHGs such as methane, carbon dioxide, nitrous
oxide etc
• This results in increased atmospheric temperature, warming of
oceans, melting of ice cups, rise in the level of sea ,changes in
rain patterns
13. • Abrupt changes in climatic conditions like
flood,tornadoes,cyclone, heat waves, etc.
• All these changes directly or indirectly influence the health and
lifestyle of human beings
14.
15. Magnitude of climate change
Global scenario
• Atmosphere: Earth's surface has been successively warmer in last
three decades than any time since 1850.
• In last 800 years, the period from 1983 to 2012 was likely to be the
warmest 30 year period.
• On an average the atmospheric temperature has increased by
0.85°C in the period from 1850 to 2012
16. Cryosphere :
• Ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctic have been losing their mass
since last 20 years
Ocean:
• In Globally, the warming of ocean is largest near the upper 75 m by
0.11 degree Celsius per decade.
17. • Sea level:
• In the period between 1901 and 2010, the average sea level rose by
0.19 m.
• The rate of rise in sea level since the mid of 19th century has been
larger in last two millennia
(Pachuri RK climate change 2014, synthesis report)
18. Indian scenario
• Surface temperature: In India, level of surface
temperature has Increased by approximately 0.4°C out
last century
• Rain fall
Even though the overall monsoon rainfall has not
shown much significant change at national level, regional
variations in monsoon are recorded.
19. • A tend of decreased monsoon rainfall has been recorded in Madhya
Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, and North Eastern India
• West coast and northern Andhra Pradesh have recorded increased
monsoon rainfall
20. • Extreme weather events:
• In last 130 years, the incidence of severe storm along the coast has
increased by 0.011 events per year.
• West Bengal and Gujarat states have reported increase trends while
Odisha has recorded decreased trend in storm incidence
21. • Rise in sea levels
• There have been reports of increase in this level at the rate of 1.06-
1.25 mm per year.
(GOI, National action plan for climate change ,2007)
22. Impact of climate change
• Extreme weather-related illnesses:
High temperature: Heat hyperpyrexia, health exhaustion, heat
stroke, dehydration, syncope attacks, cerebrovascular accidents,
respiratory illnesses, etc.
Low temperature: Hypothermia, frostbite, trench foot,
respiratory illnesses, etc.
23. • Waterborne diseases:
Availability of water and water quality could influence the
magnitude of water-related diseases, such as acute
gastroenteritis, cholera, typhoid, amebiasis, ascariasis, etc.
Water washed diseases illnesses like scabies, skin infections
can result due to lack of water for taking care of personal
hygiene.
24. • Air pollution-related illnesses:
Accumulation of gases produced out of industrial processes and
human activities will lead to air pollution
Increases the burden of allergy, asthma, acute and chronic
respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, etc
25. • Vector-borne diseases:
Dynamics of vector population and disease transmission are
affected by change in atmospheric temperature and humidity.
Thus, there will be increase in the incidence of vector-borne
diseases, such as malaria, dengue, lymphatic filariasis,
chikungunya, leishmaniasis, and Japanese encephalitis.
26. • Mental illnesses:
Increased incidences of natural calamities will lead to
socioeconomic disruption among people residing in these
zones.
These critical incidents will increase the risk of an array of
mental illnesses; such as stress, anxiety, depression, etc.
27. • Nutritional deficiencies:
Extremes of weather conditions like flood and drought may
influence the food production leading to protein energy
malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, etc.
28. • Food-borne diseases:
Higher atmospheric temperatures can lead to increase in
incidence of Salmonella and other bacteria related food
poisoning
• Trauma:
Increasing incidents of natural calamities like hurricane,
cyclone, flood, etc., may lead to accidents and trauma
requiring immediate attention from health authorities.
29. • Skin diseases:
Due to depletion of ozone and exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays,
there will be increase in the incidence of skin diseases like
malignant melanoma, nonmelanocytic skin cancer etc
• Ophthalmic diseases:
Exposure to excessive solar irradiation and UV rays may result in
increased incidence of eye problems such as, photo
conjunctivitis and acute photokeratitis etc
30. • Suppression of cell-mediated immunity leads to increased
susceptibility to infection and reactivation of latent infections.
31. Deadly dozen
• The health experts from Wildlife Conservation Society released a
report on health impacts of climate change in the year 2008 and
named it as "Deadly Dozen: Wildlife Diseases in the Age of Climate
Change".
• This report lists 12 infectious diseases that have potential to spread
into new regions of the world due to climate change. These include:
32. The list includes avian influenza, Babesia, cholera, Ebola, intestinal
and external parasites, Lyme disease, red tides, Rift Valley Fever,
sleeping sickness , tuberculosis and yellow fever
33. Strategies to combat the health impacts of climate changes
• Adaptation: Adjustments in natural or anthropogenic systems
in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their
effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial
opportunities.
• Adaptive capacity: The ability of a system to adjust the climate
change to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of
opportunities, or to cope with consequences.
• Mitigation: Preparing ourselves to combat the impacts of
climate change.
34. International response to climate change
Year Effort Salient features
1998 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) was formulated
IPCC's mandate was to regularly
publish reports that provide a clear
and up-to-date picture of the state of
scientific knowledge pertaining to
climate change and its effects.
1992 Rio Earth Summit at Brazil Adapted United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) • Decided to organize
Conference of Parties (COP) annually
to share the progress made in
reducing the impact of climate
change
1997 Kyoto protocol goal of this protocol was to reduce
emissions of six GHGs by 5.2%
between 2008 and 2012 by keeping
1990 levels as the base
35. 2009 Copenhagen Climate
Change Conference
Copenhagen conference
officially defined the maximum
acceptable increase in global
temperature to be 2°C
2012 Rio+20 Conference Linking climate change to
sustainable development goals
2015 Paris agreement In this agreement, all countries
agreed to work to restrict global
temperature rise to below 2°C, and
to strive for 1.5°C. This agreement
also provides a roadmap for
collaborative and comprehensive
climate actions that will reduce
emissions and enhance climate
resilience
36. Climate change and sustainable development goals
• Sustainable Development Goal-13: Take Urgent Actions to Combat
Climate Change and its Impacts
Targets
• Strengthening of resilience and adaptive capacity to climate
change related hazards and natural disasters across all the
countries.
• Integrate climate change measures into national policies,
strategies, and planning
37. • Improve education, awareness generation, capacity building
of human resource and institutions on climate change
• Address the needs of developing countries for ensuring meaningful
mitigation actions
• UNFCCC is the primary international, intergovernmental forum
for negotiating the global response to climate change
38. India's effort to combat climate change
• India is the third largest emitter at GHG and contributes to 5.3% of
global emissions
• In October 2015, India made a commitment to reduce intensity of
its GDP by 20-25% from its base levels in 2005 by 2020 and 33- 35 %
by 2030
39. India has adapted Integrated Energy Policy in 2006 to reduce the
intensity of emission of GHGs.
- Promoting efficient management of energy in all sectors
Introduction of energy- labelling program for appliances in 2006
for all energy-consuming appliances.
40. - The label provides information on the energy consumed by
the appliance, so that the consumer can make informed decision
while purchasing it
Energy conservation building code was launched in May, 2007
to address design of large commercial buildings to optimize
building's energy demand based on their locations in different
climatic zones.
41. Energy audits are made mandatory for large scale energy consuming
industries from 2007.
- These industries should provide data on their annual energy
consumption and conservation.
42. Encouraging mass transport through city buses, local trains, and
metro trains to reduce the individual use of vehicles.
Clean air initiatives - introduction of compressed natural
gas, retiring old and polluting vehicles, and emission test for
vehicles.
Ujjwala Scheme to promote use of LPGs among families of lower
socioeconomic status by giving up subsidies by people who can
afford.
43. NATIONAL ACTION PLAN ON CLIMATE CHANGE
• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India,
has proposed a "National Action Plan on Climate Change and Human
Health.
• The mission and strategies under this plan include:
• National Solar Mission: Encouraging utilization of solar energy
44. • National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency: Enhance the
energy efficiency in various industries and appliances.
• National Water Mission: Ensure integrated water resource
Management
• National Mission for Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change: Establish
open platform to share knowledge and expertise on climate change
45. • National Mission for Green India: Preservation of forests and
afforestation
• National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture to protect agriculture
and crops from effect of climate change
• National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem
46. References
• IAPSM textbook
• Park –26 th edition
• https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/05/SYR_AR5_FINAL_f
ull_wcover.pdf (Pachuri RK climate change 2014, synthesis report)
• GOI, National action plan for climate change ,2007
