Why we should worry more about the poor during extreme heat events?

The month of May is generally the hottest time of the year in India. This time it has been unbearable. Certain parts of India are suffering from extreme heat - soaring temperatures (40C to 50C) have been reported in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Delhi, and Maharashtra resulting in more than 1000 deaths in less than one week, and the numbers continue to rise. Alarmingly, this is not a rare occurrence. Higher peak temperatures and longer periods of heat waves are becoming increasingly common in many parts of the world  as it does in India where it seem  to be recurring with regularity.2014 witnessed high temperatures in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Odissa. Similarly in 2013, 2012, and 2011, heat wave gripped many parts of the country with  2014 the hottest year on record in India.

Records from the National Climatic Data Centre indicate that the average global temperature across land surfaces was 1.68°C (3.02°F) above the 20th century average of 3.2°C (37.8°F). The Earth's surface temperature has shown accelerated warming during the last two decades due to the cumulative effects of human activities in the past 50 years, which have altered the atmosphere’s chemical composition by the accumulation of greenhouse gasses that trap heat. Exploitation of our forests and unrestrained development have led to deforestation resulting in the removal of trees-our planet's  natural heat moderators. Rampant urbanisation has led to increased temperatures due to urban heat islands. When tree cover is replaced by concrete buildings that naturally absorbs heat and retains less water, temperatures rise concomitant with the rise of urban sprawls.

Consequently human activities lead to extreme heat events - weather that is different from the usual, is abnormally hot and humid, and sustained over longer periods. Extreme heat events are increasingly being reported in many parts of the world in recent years often resulting in heat-related illnesses and deaths and  disproportionately affects the poor in developing countries.

 The casualties in the ongoing  Indian heat wave are largely  construction workers, elderly and the homeless.

Why are the poor affected more?

Lack of access to drinking water

In developing countries, people living in poverty generally have poor access to clean drinking water. Extreme heat events often goes hand -in-hand with general water shortage which limits the amount of water available to the poor contributing to severe dehydration. 

Inadequate shelter from heat 

Often the poor live in dwellings that lack adequate protection from heat, with many urban poor living in makeshift houses in slums devoid of  heat alleviating devices such as electric fans.

Occupational exposure to heat 

Whilst the advice during extreme heat events is to stay indoors, away from the heat, many poor engage in outdoor manual work for sustenance, often in urban areas where temperatures are higher which makes them increasingly prone to sunstroke and dehydration. Regardless of the danger posed by outdoor work in extreme heat, they are forced to labour in potentially lethal conditions, ironically, to survive.

Limited access to healthcare

The poor lack access to healthcare for heat-related illnesses which sometimes leads to fatal consequences.

Vulnerable elderly

Increased age (65 and over)  is a primary risk factor for heat- related illnesses regardless of socio-economic status, but the elderly poor are adversely affected to the greatest extent. This is due to the restricted ability of the older people  to change their physical environment and  their limited ability to access facilities such as water, re-hydration drinks, and medical aid, that local authorities might provide during times of extreme heat events.Additionally the elderly poor may have untreated health conditions like cardiovascular diseases and kidney diseases which predisposes them  to heat-related illness and death 

Homeless marginalised

Homeless people are highly vulnerable to heat -related illnesses due to a plethora of reasons – Often there is a high prevalence of untreated physical and mental illnesses, substance dependence, and mental health issues all of which contributes to their susceptibility. They may be less likely to take effective precautions from heat and may have poor access to medical help . Further, they may have no place to take shelter during periods of extreme heat.

 How can we help the poor before and during an extreme heat event?

• The authorities must generate extreme heat event management plans far in advance, detailing how the poor would be taken care of during extreme heat events
• Alert the poor using awareness campaigns before an impending extreme heat event so that they are prepared, can take precautions, and know what to do to protect themselves.

The points below can be used as a guide in generating extreme heat event management plan.

• Make provisions for water, re-hydration solutions, and food aid to reach the poor
• Provide emergency medical camps where the poor can seek medical aid. Additionally take  medical care to the point of need using mobile clinics- to the homeless and the elderly who may not visit the medical camps 
• Provide emergency heat refuges  where the poor can take relief from heat. In times of extreme heat events large public outdoor spaces like stadiums and parks could be adapted to provide shelter from the sweltering heat.
•  Provide financial relief that would help the poor to refrain from outdoor manual labour until the extreme heat events passes  .
•  Provide appropriate clothing, sun hats, umbrellas to provide shade etc.

With increase in global temperature, extreme heat events will continue to reappear regularly. Nevertheless, virtually all of the extreme heat- related illnesses and deaths can be prevented by taking appropriate measures to ensure that the public stays safe during an extreme heat event, and that absolutely should include the poor.

Authors of this post - Ruth Stephen and Tim Whallett

Humans vs Tigers

I have been following an interesting news of a match of Humans vs Tigers. The eventual outcome was a draw: one man and a tiger cub killed on each side.

 The story is that six men from Simpang Kiri village in Aceh Tamiang district went to the Mount Leuser National Park on Sumatra Island for harvesting agarwood (used in incense and perfume). I am assuming that this was probably illegal since national parks does have restricted entry and harvesting this precious material is probably regulated. Nonetheless, they set traps to catch deer (again, I am unsure about whether this amounts to poaching) and caught a Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) cub instead (which eventually died). This action attracted 5-7 tigers in the vicinity who, quite notably, chased the men. The men climbed up some trees and hung on to dear life for five days, subsisting on rainwater. The tigers, equally persistent, remained at the base. One man was mauled to death when he fell down after a branch snapped. The others contacted nearby villagers via the cell phones. The villagers were helpless, but eventually "tamers" and the rescue team drove the tigers away.

 I could debate at length about whether the men deserved the plight they faced, but more interesting is the behaviour of the tigers. The Sumatran tiger is the smallest (75-140 kg - Prothero et al, 2012) and is critically endangered (Sunarto et al, 2013). It is endemic to, well, Sumatra and the population is around 350. The low numbers are due to deforestation and conversion of lands into acacia and oil palm plantations, fires, and poaching (O'Brien et al, 2003; Sunarto et al, 2012; Johnson, 2013) . This plight was recently highlighted by Sunarto et al, 2013, who calculated that numbers were much lower in the Riau province which was believed to have the highest concentration of tigers (Banerjee, 2012, state that the population had declined by 70%; from 640 in 1982, the numbers fell to 192 in 2007). In a previous paper, the same authors proved that tigers are not particularly fond of plantations and settlements, preferring large contiguous and undisturbed forests and higher altitudes. However, the authors also encourage using the plantations as "corridors, stepping stones, or mosaics of connectivity facilitating animal movement"- which, in my humble opinion, is a recipe for disaster for both tigers and humans.

Indeed, it is sad that a human life and a tiger life were lost. But it could have gone in a few different ways. Five other humans could have been killed. So could have 5-6 critically endangered tigers. We very seldom recognise how our lifestyle preferences (I too have found agarwood to be particularly heady) might be only aggravating human-animal conflict elsewhere...

 Image source: http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-2885355-b-w-sumatran-tiger.php

References Kimberly Elizabeth Johnson (2013). Living Off the Fat of Another Land: Trans Fat Social Policy and Environmental Externalities Environmental Policy is Social Policy – Social Policy is Environmental Policy, 37-50 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-6723-6_4  
Timothy G. O'Brien, Margaret F. Kinnaird, Hariyo T. Wibisono (2003). Crouching tigers, hidden prey: Sumatran tiger and prey populations in a tropical forest landscape Animal Conservation, 6, 131-139 DOI: 10.1017/S1367943003003172
Donald R. Prothero, Valerie J. Syverson, Kristina R. Raymond, Meena Madan, Sarah Molina, Ashley Fragomeni, Sylvana DeSantis, Anastasiya Sutyagina, Gina L. Gage, Size and shape stasis in late Pleistocene mammals and birds from Rancho La Brea during the Last Glacial–Interglacial cycle, Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 56, 21 November 2012, Pages 1-10, ISSN 0277-3791, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.08.015.

Sunarto Sunarto, Marcella J. Kelly, Karmila Parakkasi, Sybille Klenzendorf, Eka Septayuda, & Harry Kurniawan (2012). Tigers Need Cover: Multi-Scale Occupancy Study of the Big Cat in Sumatran Forest and Plantation Landscapes PLoS One DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030859  

S Sunarto, Marcella J. Kelly, Sybille Klenzendorf, Michael R. Vaughan, Zulfahmi, M.B. Hutajulu, & Karmila Parakkasi (2013). Threatened predator on the equator: multi-point abundance estimates of the tiger Panthera tigris in central Sumatra Oryx, 47 (2), 211-220 DOI: 10.1017/S0030605311001530

Little monkeys need lots of space

This charming little creature is a White headed marmoset or "Sagui" (Callithrix geoffroyi). Tolerant of humans, they are often seen by tourists and will readily take pieces of fruit in their little hands. Classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List and in appendix II of CITES, surely conservation is no problem? Well, more or less.

Historically many were taken from the wild as pets, their very tolerance of man acting against them. This is tightly controlled these days, but their numbers are still decreasing. In the 21st century loss of habitat is the major problem, or more specifically, fragmentation of habitat. You might think that 20 forests of 1 km sq.would hold the same number of monkeys as 1 of 20 km sq. Indeed, given that predators tend to require much larger ranges and so are less likely to occur in small pockets, you might assume there would be more monkeys. You would be wrong (Chiarello & de Melo, 2001). There are various reasons.

a) Long term of course, small populations lack enough genetic diversity to stay healthy, but there are more immediate reasons.

b) Small forest fragments tend to favour trees and shrubs which are forest edge species, with proportionally less canopy or forest interior species (Cardoso da Silva and Tabarelli, 2000). Unfortunately, these are the very ones that produce the most fruit. Thus small monkeys, which tend to need a lot of fruit, suffer accordingly. In the same way, large fruit eating birds like macaws and toucans tend to be absent from isolated forests less than 250 hectares (Willis 1979).

Our little saguis are quite adaptable, and eat a lot of tree gum and insects (and anything really), so suffer less than fruit eating specialists, but it still cuts down their options. And they have another problem.

c). Small fragments may have fewer large fragments, but they still have plenty of cats, either native or feral from surrounding farm and residential land. Saguis and other small monkeys are especially susceptible to cats. They do their best, mobbing them and screeching, but that's not always enough. As an aside, it has been shown that being part of a "mob" actually reduces rather than increases monkey stress - it is tempting to extrapolate that to humans!

Driving through a landscape of fields and copses may appear more "natural" than a prairie of wheat or sugar cane, and it is, but maybe not that much more.

References
Cardoso da Silva JM, & Tabarelli M (2000). Tree species impoverishment and the future flora of the Atlantic forest of northeast Brazil. Nature, 404 (6773), 72-4 PMID: 10716443
Chiarello, A.G., de Melo, F.R. (2001). Primate population densities and sizes in Atlantic forest remnants of northern Espirito Santo, Brazil. International Journal of Primatology, 22, 379-396.

Willis, E.O. (1979). The composition of avian communities in remanescent woodlots in southern Brazil. Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia, São Paulo, 33, 1-25. 

Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010

The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010, which surveyed 233 countries, stated yesterday (25th March)that the global rate of deforestation has slowed down over the past decade, from 16 million hectares per annum in the 1990s to 13 million hectares per annum in the 2000s. Natural forest progression and afforestation programmes (mostly in China, India, Vietnam, and the US) have resulted in an addition of more hectares of new forests per annum (Asia had a net gain of 2.2 million ha per annum in the 2000s). Two countries which had the highest deforestation rates in the 1990s, Brazil and Indonesia, have significantly reduced this in the 2000s: from 2.9 million ha p.a to 2.6 million ha p.a in Brazil and from 1.9 million ha to .5 million ha in Indonesia). North and Central America had stable rates, whilst Europe had a slower rate of forest expansion than before. Yet, forested areas around the size of Costa Rica is being destroyed each year, mainly due to clearing lands for agriculture and natural causes. The highest net annual forests loss were in South America (4 million ha) and Africa (3.4 million ha). Primary forests (36% of total forested area) have decreased by more than 40 million ha since 2000. I have referred to some aspects of deforestation in Our Gossamer Planet, but I would like to point out the one great benefit of the forests (currently over four billion hectares)- they act as carbon sinks- absorbing and storing greenhouse gases. There’s more in ‘Biodiversity in India’ in The Ship 09/10, published by St Anne's College, Oxford. The Assessment’s findings are seminal, with 2010 being the UN-designated International Year of Biodiversity. Yet, the aim should be to reduce global annual deforestation rates to the proportions of a school’s playground, or perhaps even less!