Heat…the hidden killer of poor communities

A leading climate impact analyst has warned that global temperature records may not be seen in 120,000 years, and that temperature inequality is causing thousands of deaths in poor countries and communities around the world. “Hot weather is like a hidden killer, attacking the most economically vulnerable societies,” said Frederik Otto, co-founder of the World Weather Attribution Foundation, calling on the media and authorities to pay more attention to the risk.

“Heatwaves are the most dangerous type of extreme weather, but they don’t leave devastation or stunning images of destruction,” said Otto, who is also a senior lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London. “It kills the poor and lonely in rich countries, and the poor working outdoors in developing countries.” He continued: “Over the past 13 months, rising temperatures have shaped thousands of stories about poor people dying in the heat that will never be told.”

Growing concerns

The advice comes amid growing concerns about the hidden costs of unequal temperature exposure. Last month, UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued a call for action on extreme heat, with a focus on caring for vulnerable groups and protecting workers exposed to heat.

“Extreme heat is increasingly tearing economies apart, widening inequalities, undermining the Sustainable Development Goals and taking a human toll,” Guterres noted. “It is estimated to kill nearly half a million people each year, about 30 times more than tropical cyclones.”

Guterres was speaking after the world experienced its three hottest days on record on July 21, 22 and 23, surpassing the peak in data records going back to 1940.

Climate scientists say it will also likely be the hottest temperature on Earth in about 120,000 years, based on evidence from tree rings and ice cores. These numbers are not without warning: As of July, Earth had set temperature records for 13 straight months, largely due to humans burning forests, gas, oil and coal.

The exact death toll from these extreme heat waves may never be calculated, but as the temperature differentials grow, low-income groups will certainly be hit hardest. As the wealthy move from air-conditioned homes in air-conditioned cars to air-conditioned offices, restaurants and malls, the heat from these artificially cooled environments is radiated to the streets outside, while less fortunate workers such as delivery workers, construction workers or road sweepers sweat.

Unequal heat

Alex Maitland, inequality policy adviser at Oxfam International, said: “Deaths from heatwaves are caused by unequal access to heat. Heatwaves are more deadly for someone living in a tin shack than someone in an air-conditioned house.”

He added: “Deaths from heat stress are projected to increase significantly in low-income countries in the coming decades. The cruel irony is that those who die from heat stress are the least responsible for rising temperatures: the richest 1% emit the most heat, accounting for two-thirds of the world’s population, with carbon emissions in 2019 alone sufficient to cause 1.3 million heat-related deaths.”

In less developed countries, authorities often do not have the means to collect data or investigate individual deaths, particularly in conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Mali, Sudan, Somalia and the Central African Republic.

Otto urged global attention to a crisis that the world has not yet fully understood: “We don’t know how many people die from heatstroke in poor countries, but because they are exposed to high temperatures, there is no reason to believe that the proportion will be lower than in rich countries.” “We know that thousands of people are dying.” He believes that “it is very necessary to report these risks again and again.”

We need to create “a more equal world, but we also need to address inequality at home.” About the Guardian

• Extreme heat damages economies, exacerbates inequality, undermines the Sustainable Development Goals, and kills 30 times more people than tropical cyclones.

• Asylum seekers are often fleeing heat and drought and are therefore at greater risk from heat. In June, dozens of Sudanese migrants died in sweltering heat at illegal border crossings.

Temperature limits for conducting business

Some countries set different working temperature limits for workers, depending on the intensity of the work. In Belgium, the temperature limits range from 29°C (light work) to 18°C ​​(heavy work). In Hungary, by contrast, the thresholds range from 27°C to 31°C. Meanwhile, Cyprus distinguishes between workers who are “acclimated” to the heat and those who are not, with the latter estimated to have a safe working limit of 2.5°C lower.

Dr Haleska Glazek, an ILO occupational safety and health expert, said there was evidence that productivity fell significantly with each increase in temperature. While work temperature limits are becoming more common, they can be set in an ad hoc manner, she said: “There is no algorithm, no way to say, ‘The core temperature in your country is below zero.’ There is not enough monitoring and evaluation to know whether the limits set are helping to protect human health and improve productivity. Internal boundaries, such as factories, can be harder to enforce because these workplaces are less visible.”

In Indonesia, a lawsuit filed by a group of young people claims that the government’s lack of action on the climate crisis violates their rights to work and a decent living. In Bangladesh, a court ordered the closure of schools nationwide last April due to a severe heat wave.

Italian farmer dies in heatwave

The world experienced its hottest three days on July 21, 22 and 23.

Italy has been shocked by reports of “cruel” treatment of migrants working on farms across the country and the death of a flower picker in temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Tens of thousands of migrants have entered the country to pick tomatoes and other crops as the country has been hit by a heatwave since mid-June. The Italian Meteorological Institute said average summer temperatures in Italy, from June to August, rose by 1.5 degrees Celsius in the 30 years from 1994 to 2023. The extreme heat has brought new and deadly dangers to low-paid workers who pick fruit and vegetables outdoors.

Dalveer Singh worked on a flower farm and is believed to have died due to the summer heat and heavy workload. The 54-year-old was found dead in a field near the city of Latina in central Italy on August 16. Colleagues who spoke to the Guardian said he had never been ill and was “a good man who always worked hard” and he regularly sent money to his family in Punjab, northern India, but his friends said Singh intended to return to his homeland in the next few years. Over the years, as he aged, he found it increasingly difficult to work in the fields every day, and his son and son-in-law are now trying to bring his body back to India.

Migrants die from heat stroke

In June, dozens of Sudanese migrants died in scorching heat as they crossed illegally across the Egyptian border. Aid groups said the victims included entire families. Later that month, the bodies of three Mexican migrants were found in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, near the U.S. border, as an intense heat wave hit the region. The Border Patrol’s El Paso sector, which includes parts of Texas and New Mexico, said migrant deaths more than doubled from 2022 to 2023 because of rising temperatures. Last year, the charred bodies of 18 Syrian asylum seekers were found after a forest fire in Greece’s northeastern Dadia region.