Climate Change and Health

Romeo F. Quijano, M.D.

 Professor(Ret.), Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology,
College of Medicine, Univ. of the Phils. Manila
 Chairman, Pesticide Action Network Asia Pacific
 President Emeritus, Health Action for Human Rights
 Board Member, Institute for Occupational Health,
Safety and Development (IOHSAD)
 Former Member, SC, Intergovernmental Forum on
Chemical Safety (IFCS)
 Former Bureau Member, Int'l Assessment on Agricultural
Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development
“Climate change is a global problem with grave
implications, environmental, social, economic,
political and for the distribution of goods. It
represents one of the principal challenges facing
humanity in our day”
“The earth now cries out to us because of the harm we
have inflicted on her...”
- Pope Francis , 2015
“Let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch
on account of our human victories over nature.
For each such victory nature takes its revenge
on us. Each victory, it is true, in the first place
brings about results we expected, but in the
second and third places it has quite different,
unforseen effects which only too often cancel
the first.”
- Friedrich Engels, Dialectics of Nature, 1883
 GLOBAL WARMING

Global
Global Temperature 1901
 GLOBAL WARMING

Global Temperature 1952

 GLOBAL WARMING

Global Temperature 1985

 GLOBAL WARMING

Global Temperature 2018

Global CO2 accumulation

Global CO2 2002

Global CO2 accumulation

Global CO2 2008

 Global CO2 accumulation

Global CO2 2013

 Global CO2 accumulation

Global CO2 2016

 National Research Council (2010). Washington,
D.C.: The National Academies Press.
"... there is a strong, credible body of evidence, based on
multiple lines of research, documenting that climate is
changing and that these changes are in large part
caused by human activities. While much remains to be
learned, the core phenomenon, scientific questions, and
hypotheses have been examined thoroughly and have
stood firm in the face of serious scientific debate and
careful evaluation of alternative explanations. .. their
likelihood of subsequently being found to be wrong is
vanishingly small.”
 Climate Change Signals, Impacts
and Vulnerabilities – the Philippine Setting
Surface temperature increase and sea
level rise are consistent with global
trends. Hot days and hot nights have
become more frequent
Deadly and damaging typhoons, floods, flash floods,
landslides, severe El Niño and La Niña events,
drought, forest fires, etc. occurred more frequently,
since 1980
Agriculture; fresh water, coastal and marine
resources; health, etc, adversely affected
 Climate Change Signals, Impacts
and Vulnerabilities – the Philippine Setting
Studies indicate that the frequency and
intensity of tropical cyclones originating in
the Pacific have increased over the last few
decades causing significant damage in
affected countries. Some studies however claim
that there are no definitive evidences yet that the
frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones are
increasing. Nevertheless, three typhoons with the
highest ever recorded maximum gustiness—
Typhoons Reming, Loleng, and Yolanda occurred
during the last two decades.
- Philippine Climate Change Assessment 2017
 Climate Change Signals, Impacts
and Vulnerabilities – the Philippine Setting
Long dry periods during El Niño events were observed to
be associated with increase in fire occurrences that
have altered grasslands, agro-ecosystems, and forests
in central Luzon... It was also noted that the flowering
habit of several trees in the natural forests is also
prematurely triggered and the late onset of rainy
season was observed to reduce the soil moisture that
caused reduction in growth of some trees and deaths in
others.
The Philippines continues to lose its rich biodiversity
resources and is one of the world’s most threatened
hotspots... Warming temperature and delayed onset of
rainy season, affect the flowering and fruiting of some
trees. Some plants and wildlife are also being pushed
out of its preferred
- Philippine habitat
Climate Change ranges
Assessment 2017as temperature rises.
 Climate Change Signals, Impacts
and Vulnerabilities – the Philippine Setting

In general, major impacts to agricultural production

include higher incidence of pests and diseases, low crop
productivity/yield, stunted growth, delays in fruiting and
harvesting, declining quality of produce, increased labor
costs, and low farm income...Climate anomalies can
cause substantial loss in crop production. In 1997 to
1998, El Niño caused a 100% loss in production during
the dry season and more than 33% loss during the wet
season. The 2004 El Niño caused an 18% dry season
and 32% wet season production losses.

- Philippine Climate Change Assessment 2017

 Climate Change Signals, Impacts
and Vulnerabilities – the Philippine Setting

Within the Coral Triangle, fisheries are experiencing

changes in species composition, distribution, and yield
of fish and invertebrates. Climate impacts on coral
reefs, including coral bleaching and ocean acidification,
are likely to impact fisheries associated with these
habitats.
Consequently, food security and livelihoods
are at risk.
- Philippine Climate Change Assessment 2017
Vulnerability, Risks and Threats
 High vulnerability to
natural disasters
 Expect: more frequent
occurrence of El Niño
and La Niña events
 The poor at risk: high
poverty incidence; most
poor in natural hazard
prone areas or
dependant of natural
resources at risk
 Impact on agriculture, forestry,
and land
 Land degradation reduces productivity,
and changes in land-use in turn
increase emissions
 1990-2000: 3.3% rice production lost as a consecuence of
typhoons, floods, drought.
 El Nino (97-98) resulted in ↓6.6% GDP in agriculture
production
 Degraded land causes migration to less productive land
 Loss of subsistence-based livelihoods: 35% of labor force
depends on sector
 55.9% of CO2 emissions from land use & forestry (2000)
 Loss of biodiversity due to habitat destruction
 Impact on coastal areas, fisheries
and marine resources
 Sea level rise puts at risk coastal
activities (e.g., aquaculture) &
infrastructure
 60% of the population depends on marine resources
 Coral reefs contribute about $1.4 billion per year and
accounted for 10 to 15 percent of total annual fish yield
 Only 5-10% of mangroves and coral reefs in excellent
condition
 Decrease of up to 46% in live coral cover after the 1997-
98 bleaching event; highly bleached areas coincided with
areas of poverty and dense populations
 Loss of biodiversity due to habitat destruction thus
affecting fisheries
 Impact on water resources

 SLR increases salinity/undrinkability of

water (evident in nearly 28 percent of
coastal municipalities in Luzon, 20 percent
in the Visayas, and almost 29 percent in
Mindanao)
 Lead to ↑ 17% in wet season streamflow &
↓ 35% in dry season streamflow in
Pantabangan-Carranglan watershed.
 Climate Change Impacts on Health
– Increase in morbidity and mortality due to heatwaves,
floods, submersion, droughts, windstorms, and fires
– Increase Cardiovascular, respiratory and other diseases
due to increases in ground-level ozone and other air
pollutants
– Increase in undernutrition and related disorders
– Increase burden of diarrheal diseases
– Altered distribution of some vectors
– Increased incidence and severity of malaria
– Increase number of people at risk of dengue
– Altered seasonal distribution of some pollen species
MILITARISM,
 Effects of Temperature Rise on
Dengue Transmission
- Shorten viral incubation period in
mosquito
- Shorten breeding cycle of mosquito
- Increase frequency of mosquito feeding
- More efficient transmission of dengue
virus from mosquito to human
 Global Dengue Epidemiology

1960s

Thousand-fold
increase in reported
incidence

1990s
Dengue fever only
DHF/DSS

Dengue007/CMH/260302
Miscellaneous effects leading to
direct and indirect health impacts

 Enhanced toxicity potential of pesticides and

other toxic chemicals
 Increased tendency to use more toxic
chemicals
 Decreased fish tolerance to toxicants
 Increased extinction of species
 Increase in insect pests and plant diseases
 Vulnerable groups
• Children
• Elderly
• Cardiovascular Disease
• Chronic Lung Diseases
– Asthma
– Emphysema
– Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
(COPD)
 Individual Susceptibility
• Previous or Concurrent Exposures
– additive --antagonistic
– synergistic
• Nutritional status
• Health conditions
• Social Determinants of Health
Social Determinants

POLITICAL

CULTURAL ECONOMIC
 General Remarks

Climate change is influenced by

political, economic, and cultural factors.
Power relations largely determine the
dynamics of these factors.
Climate change is brought about mainly
by the rich.
Climate change adverse impacts are
mainly on the poor.
 General Remarks
The link between environmental
destruction and the current capitalist
system is clear and obvious.
Corporate control or influence in
government, international institutions
(including the UN), academe, media,
NGOs and many other entities is
pervasive.
 Carbon footprint
US household =20.3MT CO2/yr
Phil household = 1.5MT CO2/yr
Phil household w 1TV, 2Fans, 1Ref, 1 car) =
256kg CO2/mo x 12= 3MT CO2/yr
Phil household in rural area w/o TV, Ref,
car, or motorcycle =
10 kg CO2/mo x 12 = 120kg CO2/yr
 Carbon footprint
Carbon footprint of air travel:
Los Angeles -Manila = 1.74 MT CO2/RT
Manila to Davao = 0.223 MT CO2/RT
Carbon footprint of hotel stay:
1 room, 1night = 27.4 kg CO2
x 100 rooms = 2,740 kg CO2
 Carbon footprint
Coal Power Plant (1,000 MW) =
6.2 million MT CO2/yr;
(600 MW) = 3.72 million MT CO2/yr =
carbon footprint of 1,240,000 households.
Carbon footprint of Iraq War (2003-2010)=
250-600 million MT CO2
The US military is the largest institutional
user of petroleum products and energy.
 Carbon footprint
The US military is the largest institutional
user of petroleum products and energy.
US military oil consumption in 2011:
117 million barrels (US Congress hearing)
Carbon footprint/barrel = 432.71kg CO2
117 million barrels x 432.71kg CO2/barrel
=50,625,900,000.00 kg CO2 in 1yr(2011).
 True nature of Corporate Globalization
• Greed-driven
• Liberalization
• Ordered by
• Big business,
• Advanced by
• Large
• Industrial
• States,
• Aggravating
• Tyranny and
• Impoverishment of
• Oppressed
• Nations
 General Remarks
The problem is structural and
systematic and a radical change is
needed.
There is a need for a revolutionary
solution, an explicitly political movement
with a pro-people and egalitarian
program that would fundamentally
change society for the betterment of all.
 General Remarks
A global people's movement that fights
for radical change and genuine social
transformation must be built.
Structural and systematic changes can
only be achieved by taking power out of
the hand of the Big Business and their
cohorts in government and placing
power in the hands of the people.
 General Remarks
People must not sit back and wait for
politicians to carry out necessary and
urgent measures needed to address the
climate crisis.
All concerned sectors must arouse,
organize, and mobilize their
constituencies for globally coordinated
and unified actions to save earth and
humanity.
“The world will not be destroyed by
those who do evil, but by those who
watch them without doing anything.”
– Albert Einstein
 What needs to be done?
• Stop immediately all exploitative and destructive
corporate activities
• Oppose corporate globalization
• Capacity-building should be strengthened among
people's organizations
• Information gathering, monitoring and exchange
amongst people should be improved
• Alternative models of development and social
relations should be advanced
 What needs to be done?
• Leadership overhaul of anti-people
governments should be done urgently
• International solidarity of oppressed
classes should be strengthened
• Sustainable production and consumption
should be the dominant way of life
• Mitigation/Adaptation measures should be
instituted
NOW !
 Precautionary Principle

When there are reasonable

grounds to indicate potential
harm to health &
environment, precautionary
action should be taken even
if cause and effect
relationship has not been
established scientifically.
 RESIST !
Corporate Science
S erving
C orporate
I nterest
E ngaged in
N on-essential
C ommercial
E xploits
 What needs to be done?
 A wareness raising
 N etworking among groups
 T echnical capacity building
 I nformation exchange/monitoring
 D eepening of understanding
 O rganizing concerned people
 T ransformative action
 E mpowerment of people
 Obstacles to Overcome
• D read
• I gnorance
• S elfishness
• E litism
• A pathy
• S ubservience
• E scapism
 Get Out Into The Storm, My Friend
By Romeo F. Quijano

Get out into the storm, my friend

And feel the fury of climate change
Look into the clouds
And see the darkness of worsening greed
Get drenched in the rain,
And feel the coldness of apathy
Wade into the floods,
And hear the gasp of a drowning child
Get out of your comfort zone, my friend,
Perhaps you’ll see dehumanizing poverty
Meet the people displaced,
Perhaps you’ll see vulnerability
Touch their gaunt skins,
Perhaps you’ll feel the rigors of suffering
And look into their eyes,
Perhaps you’ll see injustice glaring!
But then my friend,
When you see the strike of lightning,
That would be the spark of awakening
When you see the stretch of rain falling,
That would be hope out there pouring
When you see floodwaters coming,
That would be the mass movement rushing
And when you hear the thunder rolling,
That, my friend, is the people’s fight roaring!
“Ang hindi marunong magmahal sa kalikasan,
Walang patutunguhan kundi kapahamakan!”

“Ang paglapastangan sa kalikasan,

Paglapastangan sa sangkatauhan!”

-rfq, 2019
PEOPLE POWER !
 Recommended Readings
[Link] change and human health : risks and responses, editors : A.
J. McMichael et al. WHO, GENEVA 2003.
[Link]-Si-Pope-Francis-Encyclical-on-the-Environment
[Link] Change 2013, Fifth Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York,
NY 10013-2473, USA.
[Link] warming of 1.5°C-An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of
global warming of 1.5°C, 2018.
[Link]://[Link]/global-warming/science-and-impacts/
science/[Link]
[Link] Climate Change Assessment 2017
[Link] the Numbers: Greenhouse Gas Data and International
Climate Policy-Part I, Chapter 6, World Resources Institute
 Recommended Readings
[Link] people produce more carbon pollution -
[Link]
[Link] Network of Global Corporate Control. Vitali,S. et al., PLoS ONE, 1
October 2011, Volume 6, Issue 10.
[Link] elite networks in a transforming global oil market. Naná de Graaff,
International Journal of Comparative Sociology 53(4) 275 –297
[Link]://[Link]/interlocking-directorates/
[Link]/en/Council_on_Foreign_Relations#/Membership
[Link], capitalism and the military. Nick Buxton, Ecologist, 15th
November 2018.
[Link] elephant in Paris – the military and greenhouse gas emissions,
TNI 5/13/2019. [Link]