Report Says Global
Warming Could Spark Conflict
September 23, 2005 — By Reuters
CANBERRA — Rising world temperatures
could cause a significant increase in disease across Asia and Pacific
Island nations, leading to conflict and leaving hundreds of millions of
people displaced, a new report said on Thursday.
Global warming by the year 2100 could also lead to more droughts, floods
and typhoons, and increase the incidence of malaria, dengue fever and
cholera, the report into the health impact of rising temperatures found.
Compiled by the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Australian
Conservation Foundation, the country's leading medical and environment
groups, the study predicts average temperatures will rise by between 1
degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) and 6 degrees by 2100.
"We're not just talking about a longer summer or a shorter ski season,"
AMA president Mukesh Haikerwal told reporters.
"Climate change will damage our health. People will get sick as a direct
result. People will die in larger numbers as our earth, our world, our
home, heats up."
In Australia, Haikerwal said up to 15,000 people could die each year due
to heat stress by 2100, up from about 1,000 a year at present, while
dengue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases could spread as far south
as Sydney.
Dengue fever in Australia is currently confined to the country's
tropical and sparsely populated far north.
Internationally, higher world temperatures would increase the incidence
of violent storms and droughts, and could lead to crop failures which
could cause political and social upheaval.
"As stresses increase there is likely to be a shift towards
authoritarian governments," the report said.
"At the worst case, large scale state failure and major conflict may
generate hundreds of millions of displaced people in the Asia-Pacific
region, a widespread collapse of law, and numerous abuses of human
rights."
The report said crop yields were likely to increase in parts of Northern
Asia, but would decrease in countries in Southern Asia, where the
incidence of floods, droughts, forest fires and tropical cyclones would
all increase.
The report, titled Climate Change Health Impacts in Australia; Effects
of Dramatic CO2 Emission Reductions, calls on governments to cut carbon
dioxide emissions to limit the impact of global warming.
Source: Reuters |