Climate crisis intensifying heatwaves, UN-backed report warns ahead of COP27

Greater action is needed to avert the recurrence of disastrous heatwaves, which are being intensified by the climate crisis, a UN and Red Cross report warned.

The UN humanitarian affairs agency, OCHA, and the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), warned in a report issued on Monday that record high temperatures this year – which are fueling catastrophes in countries such as Pakistan and Somalia – foreshadow a future with deadlier, more frequent, and more intense heat-related humanitarian emergencies. It noted that the world’s lowest-income countries are already experiencing disproportionate increases in extreme heat. “Although they are the least to blame for climate change, these nations will see a significant increase in the number of at-risk people in the coming decades,” the report said.

Martin Griffiths, UN Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said, “As the climate crisis goes unchecked, extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and floods, are hitting the most vulnerable people the hardest.” “Nowhere is the impact more brutally felt than in countries already reeling from hunger, conflict and poverty,” he added.  The report, titled “Extreme Heat: Preparing for the heatwaves of the future”, has been released ahead of the COP27 UN climate change conference in Egypt next month. It is the first report published jointly by the partners and offers concrete steps to mitigate the worst effects of extreme heat. This year, communities across various parts of the world – in North Africa, Australia, Europe, South Asia, the Middle East, the western United States and China – have experienced record-high temperatures. In the coming decades, heatwaves are predicted to meet and exceed human physiological and social limits in regions such as the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and south-west Asia, the report said. “Humanitarian needs are already high in these regions, which could lead to large-scale suffering and death, population movements and further entrenched inequality,” it highlighted. Noting that the climate crisis is intensifying humanitarian emergencies worldwide, the International Federation of Red Cross, Secretary General Jagan Chapagain called for investment in both adaptation and mitigation.