Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – While poor sanitation, inadequate housing and a lack of decent infrastructure all help infectious diseases spread throughout the country, environmentalists say global warming is beginning to play an increasing role in causing human illness.
"Rising temperatures have affected the world's climate patterns. Such changes will lead to an increase in rainfall and cyclones, and intensify floods. In these conditions, people are more prone to water- and vector-borne diseases," United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) expert Arthur Rolle said at a workshop on climate change here.
More than 70 environmentalists from 43 countries in the Asia-Pacific region attended the five-day workshop organized by the UNFCCC and the Foreign Ministry.
Another expert, Muhammad Asaduzzaman of Bangladesh, said heavily populated countries like Indonesia should pay attention to increasing outbreaks of dengue fever, malaria, diarrhea and cholera. "If the diseases are already there, climate change will only make them worse," he said.
A UN study predicts global average surface temperatures will rise by between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees Celsius this century because of human greenhouse gases emissions.
A World Health Organization report says climate-sensitive diseases are among the largest global killers. Diarrhea, malaria and protein-energy malnutrition caused more than 3.3 million deaths globally in 2002, with 29 percent of these deaths occurring in the Africa region, it says.
A senior official at the Indonesian Red Cross, Ujang Dede Lasmana, said although the government had no studies proving a correlation between climate change and an increased rate of disease, there was plenty of anecdotal evidence indicating the link.
"For instance, a study shows that Jakarta's temperature is increasing between 1 and 2 degrees Celsius (annually). The impact is dengue fever, which once occurred in epidemics and now is endemic, affecting Jakartans every year," he said.
Ujang said cases of malaria found recently in the Yakuhimo plateau in Papua proved that the eastern part of the country was also getting warmer. "There have never been malaria cases found on such plateaus before because mosquitoes could not survive the cold temperatures there," he said.
To address the issue, a two-pronged strategy was needed, Ujang said. The government should implement policies to discourage the production of greenhouse gasses, giving breaks to companies and individuals who burn less fossil fuels. It should also promote healthy behavior and clean up areas that were a disease-risk, he said.