Burundi, CAR, others risk climate, toxic pollution in Africa – Study
By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Eight African countries were among the 10 most vulnerable to climate change and toxic pollution, according to the study published in the journal PLOS ONE.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi and the Central African Republic are the worst off. The two other countries in the top 10 are Bangladesh and Afghanistan in South Asia.
Toxic pollution in the environment, be it dirty air, contaminated water or unhealthy soils, accounted for more than 8 million deaths globally in 2018. Chad, Madagascar, Nepal, Niger and India reported the highest proportions of total deaths linked to toxic pollution.
Climatic shifts also endanger human health in multiple ways, from dangerous temperature rise, land degradation, extreme weather events, to sea-level rise.
Though harder to pin down, some estimates suggest that 250,000 excess deaths will occur every year between 2030 and 2050 because of climate change.
“These streams of pollutants have generally been looked at separately,” said Richard Marcantonio, first author of the study and a researcher at the University of Notre Dame, “even though many of their sources and many of the drivers are the same.”
The study shows that tackling both kinds of risk together might be a good strategy for some countries. It does not delve into how the hazards interact with each other.
In the real world, these two forms of environmental disturbance coincide to create life-threatening conditions. Wildfires in the U.S., which witnessed a record-breaking fire season in 2020, are testimony to the complex ways environmental phenomena endanger human life. The prolonged and intense fire season bears the imprint of a warming planet, and has also resulted in deteriorating air quality in the country.
Climatic shifts also endanger human health in multiple ways, from dangerous temperature rise, land degradation, extreme weather events, to sea-level rise.
Though harder to pin down, some estimates suggest that 250,000 excess deaths will occur every year between 2030 and 2050 because of climate change.
The study shows that tackling both kinds of risk together might be a good strategy for some countries. It does not delve into how the hazards interact with each other, Mongabay reports.
