Abstract
BackgroundIn Ireland, rising temperatures remains the climate projection that national climate scientists associate with the highest degree of confidence. However, the health challenge of heat has been largely absent from Ireland’s public health sector. This is epitomised by the lack of a comprehensive public health-focused heat-health action plan or country-specific codes of practice for heat-health when working outdoors. Our objective is to highlight the anticipated heat-health challenges in Ireland, and other temperate regions, through analysing vulnerable groups and systems, reinforcing the need to respond.MethodsA scoping literature review was conducted to determine how heat affects health of the vulnerable in temperate climatic regions, with a focus on Ireland. Additionally, national Google Trends data was coarsely analysed to determine whether heat is a growing societal concern.Results and discussionThe heat-vulnerable include: older people; chronically ill; infants, pregnant women, children; outdoor workers; socio-economically disadvantaged; urban dwellers; food systems and the health sector. Google Trends data suggest an increase in heat-related health searches over time, demonstrating rising levels of concern to temperature increases, reinforcing a gap in national policy associated with communication of, and response to, the heat-health challenge. Specific, actionable recommendations for adaptation and mitigation strategies are proposed.ConclusionHeat poses a public and occupational health challenge, receiving limited attention in Ireland. Lack of a co-ordinated effort, places vulnerable populations at risk. Our recommendations, with reference to vulnerable groups and acknowledging the multi-sectoral nature of heat-health and climate change, advocate for the adoption of a “health and climate change in all policies” approach and the development of a public health-focused heat-health action plan.
Highlights
In Ireland, rising temperatures remains the climate projection that national climate scientists associate with the highest degree of confidence
As with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) at a global level, the projections made with the highest degree of confidence by Irish climate scientists are that of rising temperatures and mean annual air temperature [8] with projected rises for Ireland ranging from 1.0 °C to 1.6 °C by 2050 with all seasons projected to be warmer by 0.9 °C to 1.7 °C by 2050 [4, 5, 9]
Our scoping review revealed a paucity of literature regarding heat-health in Ireland, identifying 15 papers that met the inclusion criteria which are discussed in the relevant sections below
Summary
In Ireland, rising temperatures remains the climate projection that national climate scientists associate with the highest degree of confidence. The occurrence and severity of heatwaves are projected to increase with a 10 to 40% increase in change in the percentage of summer (May–September) days classified as heat-wave days, and a 2 to 8% change in the maximum daily maximum temperature for days classified as heat-wave days [10]. Despite such high confidence statements in temperature projections, heat is yet to really be considered as a climate change-related health challenge in Ireland, a country currently classified as having a temperate climate (marine west coast climate, Cfb) under the Köppen climate classification system [11]
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