United Nations demonstrates that Climatic Issues are potential threats for Elders

In a world increasingly shaped by climate extremes, environmental experts are delivering a blunt warning: four rapidly emerging threats could reshape life for millions unless urgent action is taken.

From ancient microbes awakening in melting glaciers to toxic pollutants unleashed by floods, the dangers are no longer distant or theoretical. They are here, and they are growing.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP), highlights four critical areas where environmental degradation intersects with human vulnerability: legacy pollution, melting glacier microbes, undamming rivers, and climate risks for the senior citizens that is growing.

The report paints a vivid picture of how climate change is not only altering ecosystems but also exposing communities, especially the most vulnerable to new and intensifying dangers. Some issues may be local or relatively small-scale issues today, but have the potential to become issues of regional or global concern if not addressed early, the report warned.

UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said action must be taken “to protect people, nature and economies from threats that will only grow with each passing year”.

MELTING GLACIER MICROBES –

Climatologists have reaffirmed that many glaciers will not survive this century unless action is taking to slow the melting rate caused by climate change. That means those living downstream will face a tide of floods alongside threats posed by reactivated microbes in a warming cryosphere or frozen parts of the Earth. Frozen in ice sheets, glaciers and permafrost are bacteria, fungi and viruses. While most are dead, some are dormant and some are active. As global temperatures hit record highs, these microorganisms will become more active in many ecosystems. Even if the melting can be slowed down by mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, efforts must assess and prepare for possible threats from potential pathogens.

Also crucial is documenting and preserving cryospheric microorganisms, which can shed light on the history of climate and evolution, help in finding therapies for diseases and develop innovative biotechnologies.

DISMANTLING DAMS –

In several parts of the world, river water levels have dropped by up to 80%, restricting access to drinking water and food supplies, leading to increased respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases, malaria and acute malnutrition among youngsters under age five. Part of what is making the problem worse in hot spots around the world are the plethora of dams operating at a time when climate change is triggering droughts around the world. Drought is keeping more than 420,000 children out of school in Brazil, Colombia and Peru alone, according to a report by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

As such, there is a growing need to remove dams and other barriers to rehabilitate river ecosystems, a process increasingly initiated by local communities, Indigenous Peoples, women and youth. Rivers and streams can recover remarkably once barriers are gone, but other stressors, from pollution to climate change, need to be addressed in parallel. Understanding the restoration outcomes of barrier removal is necessary not only to guide future removals, but also to inform decisions about existing and future barriers.

CLIMATE RISKS FOR THE ELDERLY –

Older people face increased risks during extreme weather and suffer more from ongoing environmental degradation. As the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) predicts ever more hot weather, the elders are suffering disproportionately, as seen in rising numbers of deaths and illnesses amid recent heat waves around the world.

At the same time, the world’s ageing population is growing: the global share of people over 65 years old will rise from 10% in 2024 to 16% by 2050. Most of them will live in cities, where they will be exposed to extreme heat and air pollution and experience more frequent disasters. Older people are already more at risk, so effective adaptation strategies will need to evolve to protect these older populations.

LEGACY POLLUTANTS –

Flooding has crippled communities in all regions of the world as the number of extreme weather events climb. Many regions have faced an increase in the frequency and magnitude of severe storm events with extreme rainfalls and floods.

The Pakistan floods of 2010, flooding in the Niger Delta in 2012 and Hurricane Harvey off the coast of Texas in 2017 are all examples when floodwaters stirred up sediments, releasing heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants. Moreover, the recurrent Flashfloods in the Himalayan Region Of India, and finally the recently experienced natural tantrums at Texas, USA.

While the direct effects of these floods on life and infrastructure are widely recognised, indirect outcomes are often overlooked. An underestimated issue is the remobilisation and redistribution of chemical contaminants in river sediments by frequent and severe flooding, posing environmental challenges and socioeconomic repercussions.

Evaluating sediments to understand hazards, rethinking flood protection to lean on nature-based solutions and investments in natural remediation of contaminated sediments are all options to deal with this problem.

Team Maverick