Impact of Climate Change on Human Health and Well-Being

Dr. A. Karim AhmedDirector of International Program

National Council for Science and the EnvironmentWashington, DC

Khwarizmi Science SocietyLahore College for Women University

Lahore, Pakistan

March 29, 2012

Climate Change and Public Health Giving it a Human Face!

Magnitude of Health Impacts of Climate Change:4th Assessment Report

(IPCC, 2007)

WHO Estimated Mortality Attributable to Climate Change (~ 150,000 / year)

Glacier Melting in the Himalayas – Basic Information(UNEP, 2007)

• Glaciers occupy 85,000 square kilometers of the Himalayan Mountains

• There are 15,000 glaciers and 9,000 glacial lakes in the Himalayan Mountain range stretching 2,500 kilometers across Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, India and China

• The Himalayan Mountain range feeds water to 9 perennial river systems, including the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers that provides lifeline to nearly 1.3 billion people

• Himalayan glaciers are shrinking at an average of 10 – 60 meters annually.

• In Bhutan, the Luggye Glacier has retreated by 160 meters yearly from 1988 to 1993. In Nepal, in the Dudh Koshi sub-basin, glaciers have retreated by 10 – 59 meters per year.

Snow Cover Changes in the Hindu Kush,Himalayan & Tibetan Highland Region (2002 – 2010)

Earth Satellite Monitoring DataRef: ICIMOD, 2011

Indus River Basin Flooding, 2010 & 2011…

Pakistan Flooding / Russian Heat-wave

Baldin District, Sindh, Sept 2011

Shahdadkot, Sindh Province

300 Russian wild-fires, 2010

The Toll in 2010 Pakistan: Over 307,000 sq miles flooded; 20 million people affected, with 2000 deaths

Russia: Heatwaves & wildfires caused 56,000 deaths; $15 billion estimated damage