Climate change death toll hits 300,000 per year

Climate change is responsible for 300,000 deaths per year, a new report by the Global Humanitarian Forum (GHF) revealed this week.

The report, ‘The Human Impact Report: Climate Change The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis’, is the most comprehensive ever on the human impact of climate change.

Research for the report found that 325 million people are already seriously affected by climate change through damage to homes, crops, and livelihoods, at a total cost of $125 billion a year.

Ninety percent of climate change deaths are caused by “gradual environmental degradation caused by a warming climate that exacerbates the threats of malnutrition, diarrhoea and malaria”, the report said, with the remaining 10% of death caused by an increase in natural weather phenomena.

By 2030, global warming will claim half a million lives a year with rising temperatures increasing the incidents of major catastrophes such as heatwaves, floods, and forest fires.

Majority world countries such as Bangladesh and Sudan will be most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, although rich world countries will increasingly be affected by deadly climate events such as Europe’s 2003 heatwave and Australia’s recent forest fires and floods.

Global warming will exacerbate conflicts over vital resources such as water, the report said.

Kofi Annan, former head of the United Nations and GHF founder, said the report is a “clarion call” for world leaders to unite in the fight against global warming.

“Climate change is silent human crisis,” Annan said.

“Yet it is the greatest emerging humanitarian challenge of our time.

“Already today, it causes suffering to hundreds of millions of people, most of whom are not even aware that they are victims of climate change.

“We need an international agreement to contain climate change and reduce its widespread suffering.

“The alternative is mass starvation, mass migration, mass sickness and mass death.”