RAWALPINDI, May 11: The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that climate change poses significant health risks and called for lessening reliance on coal-fired power generation.

According to a WHO report, a drop in coal-fired power generation will reduce air pollution and associated diseases and deaths. It called for changing the mode of transport and promoting bicycling and walking to reduce pollution and traffic-related injuries and deaths. Production and transportation of food are major emitters of greenhouse gases, the report said.

“Adaptation is needed because some degree of climate change is inevitable ... Failure to respond will be costly in terms of diseases, health-care expenditure and lost productivity,” warned WHO.

The report said that global warming would be gradual, but the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, such as storms, heatwaves, droughts and floods, would be abrupt and the consequences would be acute.

The earliest and the most severe effects would be felt by developing countries, with negative implications for achieving health-related millennium development goals.

“The overarching goals for the international response to protect health from climate change are to ensure that concerns about public health security are placed at the centre of the response to climate change; to implement adaptive strategies at local, national and regional levels to minimise impacts … on human health …

“Increased investment in public health systems is already necessary to meet … Millennium Development Goals, whose achievement will be further compromised by the impact of climate change,” the report said.

It said evidence-based and consistent advocacy by the global health community would be needed to raise awareness that public health needed to be protected. The WHO report said that globally, the very young, the very old and the very weak were at greatest risk.

“Low-income countries and areas where malnutrition is widespread, education is poor, and infrastructures are weak will have most difficulty adapting to climate change and related health hazards.”