World Earth Day | Temperature rising in Europe, 15,700 deaths due to heatwave in 2022, says UN

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), in its report, said that temperatures have increased across Europe in the last few years and the heatwaves have resulted in 15,700 deaths across the continent in 2022.

The report emphasised that Europe was affected by record-breaking heat waves in the summer and extreme heat was accompanied by dry conditions in some areas. The death toll due to heatwave exceeded 15,000 across the UK, Portugal, France, Spain and Germany.

The WMO report titled “State of the Global Climate in 2022” was released on World Earth Day which is marked on April 22 every year. WMO is the United Nations (UN) agency for climate, water and weather.

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Past eight years hottest in history: report

In the report, the UN noted that the past eight years were the hottest in record history. It added that one million species are currently facing the risk of extinction as the world's biodiversity is threatened by climate change.

The WMO report further emphasised that increasing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are causing damaging environmental changes.

"WMO latest State of the Global Climate report shows that the last eight years were the eight warmest on record, and that sea level rise and ocean warming hit new highs. Record levels of greenhouse gases caused 'planetary scale changes on land, in the ocean and in the atmosphere'," stated the UN in a release.

Glaciers melting at dramatic speed

Emphasising the melting glaciers, the WMO stated, “Antarctic sea ice fell to its lowest extent on record and the melting of some European glaciers was, literally, off the charts.”

The glaciers of the world lost their thickness by more than 1.3 metres between October 2021 and October 2022, which is much larger compared to the average decrease over the last decade. Since 1970, the cumulative thickness of glaciers lost is around 30 metres.

The report stated that there has been a record increase in sea levels by an average of 4.62 millimetres every year between 2013 and 2022, which is double the speed at which it was increasing between 1993 and 2002.

The UN said that record high temperatures were also recorded in the oceans where almost 90 per cent of the heat, which remains trapped on Earth due to the greenhouse gases, finally ends up.

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Climate change impacting people's health

Due to climate change, the report stated that the health of European people has been impacted in several ways, including illness and death due to the increased frequency of extreme weather conditions.

The report has suggested that there can be an increase in zoonoses, where the transmission of disease takes place from animals to humans, along with water, food and vector-borne diseases, as well a rise in cases of mental health disorders.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, while speaking on World Earth Day, said, "In his message on Earth Day, UN chief Guterres warned that 'biodiversity is collapsing as one million species teeter on the brink of extinction', and called on the world to end its 'relentless and senseless wars on nature', insisting that 'we have the tools, the knowledge, and the solutions' to address climate change.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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