研究報告顯示 氣候變化影響人類健康

Climate change poses a threat to human health so great that it could undermine all the gains in global development during the past 50 years, an independent international commission reports on Tuesdaytoday.

一家獨立的國際委員會今日報告稱，氣候變化對人類健康的影響如此巨大，可能會毀掉過去50年全球發展方面的全部進展。

The review, led by experts on medicine and economics at University College London and published in the Lancet, says immediate action is needed to avert the direct health impacts of climate change through heatwaves, other extreme weather events and the spread of infectious diseases — and indirect effects through factors such as forced migration and crop failures.

這份評估報告由倫敦大學學院(UCL)的醫學和經濟學專家牽頭完成，發表在《柳葉刀》(Lancet)上。報告表示，需要馬上採取行動，以避免熱浪、其他極端天氣事件和傳染性疾病的蔓延對人類健康的直接衝擊，以及被迫遷徙和作物歉收等因素對人類健康的間接影響。

“Climate change is a medical emergency,” said Hugh Montgomery, director of the UCL Institute for Human Health and Performance and co-chair of the commission. “It thus demands an emergency response, using the technologies available now. Under such circumstances, no doctor would consider a series of annual case discussions and aspirations adequate, yet this is exactly how the global response to climate change is proceeding.”

“氣候變化是一種醫療緊急情況，”UCL人類健康與表現研究所(IHHP)所長、委員會聯合主席休•蒙哥馬利(Hugh Montgomery)表示，“因此，它要求使用現有技術進行應急響應。在這種情況下，沒有哪位醫生會認爲一系列的年度病例討論和抱負是足夠的，但這正是目前全球對氣候變化的響應方式。”

But the authors told a press previewsaid of the report in London on Mondayyesterday that they wanted to avoid issuing another gloom and doom warning about climate change.

但報告作者昨日在倫敦舉行的報告介紹會上表示，他們想避免發出又一個“末日來臨”的氣候變化警告。

The biggest direct effect of projected climate change is on heatwaves. The number of people dying from extreme heat could increase 12-twelvefold by the end of this century, as a result of global warming combined with increasing numbers living in affected areas, said Georgina Mace, director of the UCL Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research.

據預測，氣候變化的最大直接影響將是熱浪。UCL生物多樣性和環境研究中心(Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research)主任喬治娜•梅斯(Georgina Mace)表示，到本世紀末死於極熱天氣的人數可能會增加12倍，這是全球變暖和越來越多的人居住在受影響地區的疊加效果。