Quotes by UCL, Lancet

Climate change will compound existing food insecurity. Before the current food crisis, more than 800 million people had calorie-deficient diets, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. After the rise in food prices in 2008, millions more—estimates range from 100 million to 850 million—might suffer hunger or food insecurity. According to the UN World Food Programme, the number of food emergencies every year has increased from an average of 15 during the 1980s to more than 30.

Another study suggests that half of the world's population could face severe food shortages by the end of the century because rising temperatures take their toll on farmers' crops. Harvests of staple food crops, such as rice and maize, could fall between 20% and 40% as a result of increased temperatures during the growing season in tropical and subtropical regions.

Global temperature rise will directly affect health. The heatwaves of 2003 in Europe caused up to 70 000 deaths, especially from respiratory and cardiovascular causes

Mosquitoes responsible for malaria will grow, by accessing warm high altitudes, in places once free of the disease. [It is estimated] that 260—320 million more people will be affected by malaria by 2080 as a consequence of new transmission zones.

Dengue fever is sensitive to climate. The disease is prominent in urban areas because of inadequate water storage that affects about 100 million people worldwide. Climate change will increase the number of regions affected by arbovirus, such as Australia and New Zealand. Heavy rainfall and a rise in temperature increase the rate of infection. By 2080, about 6 billion people will be at risk of contracting dengue fever as a consequence of climate change, compared with 3·5 billion people if the climate remained unchanged.

The damage done to the environment by modern society is perhaps one of the most inequitable health risks of our time. The carbon footprint of the poorest 1 billion people is around 3% of the world's total footprint; yet, these communities are affected the most by climate change. Adverse health outcomes are likely to be greatest in low-income countries and in poor people living in urban areas, elderly people, children, traditional societies, subsistence farmers, and coastal populations. Loss of healthy life years as a result of global environmental change (including climate change) is predicted to be 500 times greater in poor African populations than in European populations. The observed variation is due to several factors: regional variation in predicted rates and types of climatic change; differing underlying vulnerabilities (such as existing levels of heat and food stress, and exposure to disease vectors); and differing capacities to adapt to changing conditions.

The 12 warmest years on record within the past 150 years have been during the past 13 years: 1998 was the warmest, followed by 2005, 2002, 2003, and 2004.