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August 16-17, 2018 | Copenhagen, Denmark
Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing
International Conference on
Journal of Archives of Industrial Biotechnology | Volume 2
From 25 years of inaction to a global transformation for public health
Meisam Tabatabaei
Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran, Iran
C
limate change and its adverse consequences have already
exerted intense effects on diverse aspects of human life
including health. The latest report recently published in the
prestigious journal of the The Lancet (IF:47.8) reveals some
groundbreaking findings to the scientific community for
the first time. Some of the key findings presented were as
follows:
125 million extra medically vulnerable adults exposed to
heatwaves globally between 2000 and 2016. This builds on
earlier findings showing that 1 billion additional people each
year can be expected to be exposed to heatwaves by 2040.
87% of cities globally are in breach of WHO air pollution
guidelines, meaning billions of people worldwide are
exposed to unsafe levels of atmospheric particulate matter
(PM 2.5). This is significantly higher than previously thought.
Undernutrition is identified as the largest health impact
of climate change in the 21st century. Related impacts of
climate change on crop production referenced in the report
include a 6% decline in global wheat yields and 10% fall in
rice yields for each additional 1 °C rise in global temperature.
Over one billion people globally will need to migrate within
ninety years due to a rise in sea level caused by ice shelf
collapse unless action is taken.
A 5.3% average fall in labor productivity of agricultural
workers globally since the millennium, with a dramatic
drop of 2% between just 2015 and 2016 as a result of rising
temperatures. This trend threatens the livelihoods and
ability of subsistence farmers to support themselves and
their families.
A 46% increase in weather related disasters since 2000.
$129 US billion of economic losses caused by climate related
events in 2016 alone. 99% of losses in low-income countries
are uninsured.
An increase of 3% and 5.9% in scope for likely transmission
of the Dengue virus by just two types of mosquito since
1990. With 50 to 100 million infections of Dengue estimated
to occur each year, this will exacerbate the spread of the
world’s highest growth disease.
It should be highlighted that the core reason behind global
warming and some of the aforementioned phenomenon
has been the increasing utilization of fossil-oriented energy
carriers. In fact, the associated emissions have literally driven
the planet Earth to an irreversible point, to an extent that
if immediate actions will not be taken, the health-related
accomplishments humanity has achieved over the last half
a century could be undone. Expansion of the application of
renewable energies including biofuels (biodiesel, bioethanol,
etc.) could be regarded among the promising solutions which
should be implemented to ensure sustainable development
and continued health of the next generations.
e:
meisam_tab@yahoo.com