Climate change and its impact on human lives

Dr Leichombam Sophia Devi *

Since the past decade, climate change has severely disrupted the ecology of the world posing a threat on human lives. It has been a major concern for all the Nations; and international agencies along with policy makers have been in close touch to tackle the negative impact on the human race.

Numerous factors have been considered for the spread of the deadly COVID-19; and a study by scientists at Harvard University found that climate change may be one of the underlying factors. Here, we highlight the role of climate change and the transmission of pandemic.

It was reported by the State of the Global Climate that 2020 was recorded as one of the three warmest years. The average global temperature was approximately found to be 14.9°C, and is above the pre-industrial level 1.2 deg C. According to World Meteorological Organization, the warmest decade on record was from 2011 to 2020. This warm environment gave a favourable breeding period for many germs and microorganism.

There is no evidence that climate change is directly influencing the spread of the COVID-19 but it is believed that global warming is. giving a favourable environment for the transmission of COVID-19 (65%-85% of the variant).

Many scientists and researchers have suggested that climate change can aid in the spread of infectious diseases such as Dengue, Ebola, Anthrax etc. In the previous years also, WHO highlighted the link between changing environmental conditions and epidemic diseases. Studies revealed that one of the root causes of the pandemic such as COVID-19 when linked with the climate change can be taken to be deforestation and other activities like burning of fossil fuels.

It may sound very irrelevant how cutting of the trees can result in the transmission of this very fatal disease but it cannot be overlooked as forests/trees play a vital role in building a healthy biodiversity and is home to many species. When the forests are cut down for agricultural purposes and urbanization, there is a loss of habitat for wildlife animals.

It has been reported that the tropical forests contain at least half the Earth’s species and an area of 17 million hectares are being cleared every year. This alteration of .the habitat has compelled the wild animals to migrate from forest to a place where they can form a habitat.

The spread of infectious diseases from wild animals to humans has been a serious discussion among the biologists and scientists and confirms that the destruction of their habitat by the humans can be responsible for transmission.

Sharing of habitat with the wild animals from the deeper woods results in close contact with them and creates a chance for the germs and viruses from their bodies to transmit to the human community. These leads to the emergence of tropical diseases and outbreaks of new diseases, including massive epidemic diseases like Ebola and Lassa fever.

For instance, the Ebola epidemic which originated in West. Africa occurred because the bat which was the carrier of the Ebola virus was forced to shift to new habitat as the palm oil trees they used to reside Was cut down.

Scientists have revealed that climatic changes directly stimulate a favourable environment for bat species to flourish, have confirmed that they give rise to the birth of the very fatal novel corona viruses. Many experts have even urged the Nations to ban the wildlife markets as they are the main origin of the deadly viruses.

Apart from the loss of habitat of the wild life animals, deforestation and burning of fossil fuels increases the level of CO2 and Green House Gases (GHGs; such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbon etc.) in the atmosphere. The rise in the CO2 concentration is about 400 ppmv (parts per million by volume) in Earth’s atmosphere.

Many scientists have reported that the CO2 concentration before human industrial activities was around 270 ppmv which shows that the CO2 concentration has spiked up drastically. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on climate change reports that by 2030 the temperature will rise to 1.5UC above pre industrial levels.

It was projected by IPCC that the temperature will raise by 3.3°C at the end of the 21st century. This will become very unsafe for Earth and its inhabitants as it will have an adverse effect on the biodiversity and transmission of human infectious diseases.

There will be rise in sea levels, melting of polar ice in the Artic region, change in ecosystem, degradation of air quality, migration of species, destruction in the ozone layer and spread of infectious diseases. Some of the common infectious diseases include Lyme disease, waterborne diseases such as Vibrio parahaemolyticus which causes vomiting and diarrhoea, and mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.

From the above discussions, it is seen that the how the climate change is altering the ecology and also transmitting many deadly diseases from wild animals to the human community. To tackle these ongoing crises, many action plan and intergovernmental panel (IPCC) are formed against the climate change.

One of the cost effective and it is considered to the best practice to preserve the biodiversity of the globe is the forestation. It has been reported that around 2.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide and one-third of the CO2 released from burning fossil fuels, is absorbed by forests every year.

Apart from the habitat to 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity, 1.6 billion people in under developed countries rely on the forests for their livelihood. By 2030, the leaders of the various nations and the international community aim to restore 350 million hectares of degraded forest land.

It may be noted that millions have been spent in treatment and development of medicines of the ongoing pandemic i.e. COVID 19. Likewise, forestation can be taken up as an essential task by the human community as it is the primary tool for prevention of the global warming and the preservation of the wildlife habitat.

It is very much important for world to understand the importance of forest and its contribution in controlling the global warming. Such actions will also cut the path of transmission of many diseases from wild animals to humans in the future.


For further details contact:- Public Relations & Media Management Cell, CAU, Imphal. Email: [email protected]