Every year, global warming and climate change are hot topics. However, many Malaysians are still not very clear about these issues and have not changed their lifestyles to help reduce the effects of the ever-increasing global warming.

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), a university with expertise in environmental sustainability, has taken the initiative to organize an international seminar to find the best solutions for managing the effects of global warming, especially those concerning people’s lives.

The seminar called Malaysia Launch of the 2021 Report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change was an international collaboration, and its aim was to monitor the effects of climate change of global health. To obtain the latest and most accurate data, Lancet Countdown 2021 managed to gather researchers from several backgrounds from 43 academic institutions and agencies associated with the United Nations.

Dato’ Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad, Higher Education Minister, displayed her support for The 2021 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: code red for a healthy future by officiating the event.

UMT Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr Mazlan Abd Ghaffar said that UMT has been actively promoting issues regarding the food supply of the country and climate change.

“UMT has a Climate Change Adaptation Laboratory (CCA) that is well-equipped with the latest technology, and it is located at UMT’s Institute of Marine Biotechnology. With this CCA laboratory, UMT is ready to become a pioneer in research on Malaysian aquatic species and climate adaptation, promote the development of scientific outcomes and databases for the benefits of the country, and have the Institute of Tropical Aquaculture act as a Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE) that supports the National Food Policy through the adoption of aquaculture products as future food,” said Prof. Mazlan, who is also the lead researcher for a project under the Long Term Research Grant awarded by the Ministry of Higher Education.

According to 2021 Lancet report, more than 3.1 billion people in 2020 were exposed to heat waves every day, and these included people over 65 years and children under one year. The figure was 626 million more than the yearly average recorded in 1986-2005.

Farmers in countries with low and medium Human Development Index (HDI) were among those most affected by extreme temperatures in 2020, which caused them to lose almost half of the 295 billion work hours, leading to their economic hardships. The report showed that the average loss of income in low HDI countries was around 4-8% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

As presented during Lancet 2021, the effects such as increased average temperature and changes in rain polarity and the impacts of climate change have slowed down the efforts on managing unsafe food and water that have affected the health of the world’s population.

Last year, almost 19% of the earth surface was reported to be affected due to extreme draught, and the rate had exceeded earlier records between 1950 and 1999 by more than 13%.

The increase in temperatures during the draught affected world’s crop yields in 2020, with corn reduced by 6%, wheat by 3%, soybean by 5.4%, and rice by 1.8% compared with the yields in 1981-2010.

The effects of climate change have threatened the public’s health due to exposure to health risks and affected the sustainable development previously planned.

Environmental changes also contributed to the increase in the spread of pathogens through water, air, food, and vectors. Although socioeconomic development, societal health intervention, and advances in medicine can reduce the risk of the spread of contagious diseases, the effects of climate change have the potential to disrupt the balance.

Looking back, 10 months before the dawn of 2021, global access to the COVID-19 vaccine could not yet be achieved, where 60% of the population in high-income countries received at least a dose of the vaccine, but only 3.5% of the population in low-income countries did so. Data in the report also indicated irregularities in mitigation response towards climate change.

Lancet 2021 also focused on achieving the aim of Paris Agreement and preventing disasters associated with global warming. Based on studies, it was urged that greenhouse gas emission be reduced very soon. However, based on the current rate of reduction, the world needs more than 150 years to completely get rid of carbon, and it needs cooperation from all countries.

Although countries with high HDI have been contributing the most in the process of decarbonization, they are still the main contributors in CO2 gas emission and are responsible for 45% of the global total through their production of goods and services.

With slower decarbonization rate and poorer air quality regulations compared with those in very high HDI countries, medium and high HDI countries release the smallest particles and have the highest rate of death related to air pollution, 50% higher than the rate in high HDI countries.

Low HDI countries have lower industrial activities, and therefore their local productions contribute only 0.7% of the global CO2 emission, and they have the lowest death rate related to air pollution. However, only 12% of the people use clean fuel for cooking, so the health of most people is still at risk due to high level of air pollution.

In highly developed countries, the people living in the poorest areas are exposed to health risks because of air pollution. Achieving low carbon can reduce the cost associated with millions of deaths every year.

The reduced carbon emission during the intensive COVID-19 recovery period can indirectly prevent the world from being further affected by climate change, which is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Data presented during Lancet 2021 also revealed that the current global temperature is 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels, which supports the statement that climate change will determine the health level of the people.

A few trends can be seen from the data, some of which include the increase of 17% in electricity generated from wind and solar energy between 2013 and 2018; the decrease of 10% in coal investment in 2020; and the increase in the number of electric vehicles, which reached 7.2 million is 2019.

In addition, the global pandemic has caused an increase in the involvement of countries in drafting the best plans related  to the health of the people in various domains of the society for global wellbeing and sustainability.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of climate change extend beyond countries’ borders. Without large-scale vaccination that can be accessed by every country and society, SARS-CoV-2 and its new variants will endanger people’s health. Likewise, to handle climate change, all countries need to provide fast and systematic responses and offer recovery funds to ensure that the transition to low carbon phase and adaptation of climate change can be achieved.

From Lancet 20201, it can be concluded that promoting unified climate change mitigation and easy access to renewable energy can help prevent millions of deaths as a result of less exposure to air pollution, healthier diet, and more active life styles, which contribute to more unified global health. This is important in order to re-establish the economy and guarantee the health of the current and future generations.

Published by:
Corporate Communication Office
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu