Media statement in response to WMO State of Climate Services 2023
Wellcome statement in response the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) annual ‘State of Climate Services’ report with this year’s edition focusing on health.
2-minute read
2-minute read
Madeleine Thomson, Head of Climate Impacts and Adaptation at Wellcome and a contributor to the report, said:
"Climate change is an unprecedented threat to human health. Many countries are already having to deal with the dangerous repercussions of record-breaking temperatures. Yet, most are ill-prepared. The 2023 El Niño will likely trigger more extreme weather events and further push up temperatures around the world, with the health consequences for the most vulnerable people being potentially catastrophic.
“There is still time to act to limit the health costs. We need to improve the use of existing climate data, so that tools such as early warning systems for extreme heat and satellite surveillance to predict the risk of disease outbreaks are more accurate and accessible.
“The cyclical effects of El Niño will wane but the warming due to climate change will not. We’re going to see more and more of these unprecedented weather events and countries need to start preparing.”
Tags
