By Rory Reynolds
Mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever and malaria are on the rise due to climate change, experts have warned, while cases are set to spread in parts of the world that have never seen such illnesses.
Hotter temperatures are extending the seasonal window and making outbreaks more frequent and widespread – particularly Asia.
Furthermore, experts warn cases are set to spread across currently unaffected parts of northern Europe, Asia, North America and Australia over the next few decades.
As a result, an additional 4.7 billion people will be placed in danger if emissions and population growth continue to rise at their current rate.
The warning – which will be shared in a presentation at this year’s Global Congress held by the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases – comes after a report by The National that showed cases of dengue are rising in the Middle East, including in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
“The stark reality is that longer hot seasons will enlarge the seasonal window for the spread of mosquito-borne diseases and favour increasingly frequent outbreaks that are increasingly complex to deal with," Prof Rachel Lowe, of the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, will tell the forum.
According to the World Health Organisation, the number of dengue cases reported has increased in the past two decades from 500,000 in 2000 to more than 5 million in 2019.
One tool in the fight against mosquito diseases is combining disease-carrying insect surveillance with climate forecasts and a supercomputer to predict areas where the disease will surge, a project led by Dr Lowe in 12 countries.
“But ultimately, the most effective way to reduce the risk of these diseases spreading to new areas will be to dramatically curb emissions," she said.
Our full story is here.
UAE's infrastructure tested by extreme weather, envoy says
The intense rain and floods that hit the UAE last week are the latest in a series of extreme global weather events that are only going to get worse, an Emirati official said.
Dr Nawal Al-Hosany, UAE's permanent representative to the International Renewable Energy Agency, told an event this week the episode was “a snapshot of the future we are hurtling towards”.
“The impact was severe,” Dr Al-Hosany said. “Our infrastructure was tested and our roads … in some cases resembled lakes."
She said people around the world from Bolivia to Kazakhstan have already been affected by major floods this year.
“The social and economic damage that extreme weather conditions are causing is beyond compare.”
Dr Al-Hosany also spoke of the need to move the needle on financing for resilience and adaptation – two key Cop policies that will be the focus of the next two climate summits.
“But, as always, it will be the poorer parts of the world, including South Asia and Africa, that feel the pinch the most," she added.
John Dennehy's full story is here.
Bangladesh tries to tackle salty water woes as early heatwave arrives
Bangladesh – the world's most polluted nation – sweltered in an April heatwave this week.
Temperatures of 42ºC left it hotter than anywhere in the Middle East.
But one of the biggest problems its officials are trying to address is how to tackle the amount of saline in drinking water. Rising sea levels in the low-lying country mean at least 26 million of its 174 million people are drinking this.
This causes a rash of conditions such as hypertension, pre-eclampsia, skin disease, acute respiratory infection and diarrhoea.
Asif Saleh, the executive director of Brac, an international development organisation in Bangladesh, spoke to The National about attempts to take salt out of the water, while finding crops that can grow in it.
“We are doing a lot of research in salinity-tolerant seeds for different crops," he said.
“In those barren lands, we have produced a massive amount of sunflowers, which do very well."
Sarwat Nasir's full story is here.
The big fact
The number of electric cars sold in 2024 so far – about three million – is higher than the total for all of 2020. It shows how demand is continuing to boom, says the International Energy Agency.
Jargon buster
Nuclear fission: Splitting atoms unleashes the tremendous amount of energy that holds them together. This is what we use to make electricity in nuclear plants.
Nuclear fusion: Instead of splitting atoms, you whack them together at very high temperatures. This is how the Sun works and there’s high hopes of replicating it on Earth – although it’s yet to happen commercially.
Our full guide to understanding climate jargon is here.
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