BRUSSELS, May 29 (IPS) – Jonas Bull works at the disability rights division of Human Rights Watch. Spring traditionally brings a welcome new beginning: daylight increases, flowers bloom and temperatures are pleasantly warm. In recent years, however, this has also led to justified fears of extreme heat, with summers in Southern Europe becoming increasingly warmer as a result of climate change. The elderly, children, people with disabilities and people with mental health conditions are at greater risk.
Leo, a 10-year-old boy from Seville whom I met while researching the effects of extreme heat on people with disabilities in Andalusia, has epidermolysis bullosa, or ‘butterfly skin’, a rare genetic condition in which the skin can blister on the bottom. slightest touch. In the summer heat, sweating can lead to more blisters, while open wounds can lead to dehydration.
Unlike most children in Andalusia, for whom summer means spending time on the beach with friends and family, for Leo summer is painful. The past summers, warmer than average, were incredibly difficult for Leo, who had to stay indoors for several weeks.
Last summer, Spain recorded four heat waves, with a total of 24 days of extreme heat. Climate scientists have confirmed that higher temperatures in Spain are linked to climate change, and predicted that heat waves will do the same increase in frequency and intensity. That means Leo may have to spend even more time indoors this summer.
The people with disabilities I met last year told me that not only were they feeling the physical and psychological effects of the heat, but they also felt abandoned by their government and had no outside support. Lidia, Leo’s mother, said local authorities have not contacted their family or provided specific information on how to protect themselves during heat waves.
This should have happened if the government of Andalusiajust like those of other regions in Spain and the national governmenthas put in place heatwave action plans that require health and social services to take specific measures between mid-May and September to respond to and mitigate the impact on at-risk groups, including reaching out and providing support to those at risk.
City and Department of Health officials I spoke with admitted that the information they provided about heat measures was not provided in formats that would be accessible to people with different disabilities.
And they had no overview of what emergency measures had been activated across Andalusia, including where and how many cooling centers had been opened. The central government also does not collect data on deaths of people with disabilities as a result of extreme heat.
Heat already influences People’s mental health and a lack of meaningful support can simultaneously exacerbate feelings of isolation and abandonment, coinciding with a long summer period when schools, many shops and offices close.
In other words, it is a lonely period for those who cannot leave their homes. I am concerned about a 75-year-old woman I met who has a psychosocial disability and lives alone in Córdoba. “When it gets hot, I get anxious and irritable,” she told me. “In those stages you feel like you want to commit suicide.”
Fortunately, governments have come to realize that they must step up their efforts to meet their human rights obligations to protect populations at risk. The Andalusian government has made significant efforts to improve its annual plans to protect against heat waves.
In January 2024, it told us it would set up a system to monitor all heatwave-related measures this summer and that it aims to work closely with civil society groups to better connect with communities, especially those at risk. These steps seem promising.
The central government is also taking steps to better protect people at risk. At the height of last summer’s heat wave, Spain announced a new body, the Observatory for Climate Change and Health, made developing strategies to help protect people from climate disasters, such as heat waves, through better early warning systems, strengthening healthcare systems and raising awareness across society.
How these activities will be implemented and whether they will lead to better protection of those at risk remains to be seen. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that people cannot be left alone in tackling the climate crisis and that governments must do their part to ensure their protection. This is certainly the case for Andalusia and the rest of Spain as we head into another hot, potentially record-breaking summer.
© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
