Johannesburg – Heatwaves over the last century in sub-Saharan Africa have not
been properly recorded, undermining early warning systems to
save lives and prevent economic losses caused by soaring
temperatures, a University of Oxford report said on Monday.
Researchers found the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT),
the world's biggest database of extreme weather events, includes
data on just two African heatwaves since 1900, compared with
dozens in recent decades in other global regions.
A lack of expertise and poor governance on the issue, along
with limited observational networks contributed to the
shortfall, they said.
"Both real-world observations and climate modelling show
sub-Saharan Africa as a hotspot for heatwave activity... But
these heatwaves are not being recorded," said Luke Harrington, a
senior researcher at Oxford's Environmental Change Institute and
one of the study's authors.
"It's as if they haven't happened, but we know they have,"
he said.
The report found that in contrast to sub-Saharan Africa's
two reports in the EM-DAT, 83 European heatwaves in the last 40
years were documented.
Environmental campaigners warned that the lack of data on
extreme heat events meant African experiences of climate change
were being excluded from the global debate.
"People in Africa are certainly aware of the growing number
of heatwaves... but if they are not recorded by scientists it
will be harder for African voices to be heard," said Mohamed
Adow, director of Nairobi-based climate think-tank Power Shift
Africa.
More than half a billion people are likely to be hit by heat
stress above safe levels by 2100 if global average temperatures
continue to rise, according to a study published in March in the
Environmental Research Letters journal.
The research found some 275 million people suffered at least
one day of dangerous heat stress annually at present.
Extreme heat can lead to kidney disorders and psychiatric
illness, severe dehydration and can aggravate cardiac
conditions, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Another of the Oxford report's authors, Friederike Otto,
acting director of the Environmental Change Institute, said
lives could be saved relatively easily if warning systems worked
well.
"Early warnings make people aware to drink water regularly
and (governments can) also make drinking water freely available
and open public buildings that are cool," Otto told the Thomson
Reuters Foundation in emailed comments.
She said collaboration between health experts, disaster
researchers and meteorologists could help fill the data gaps,
making extreme weather events predictable and avoiding
unnecessary loss of life.
Adow, who was not involved in the Oxford study, said
accurate data would also spur climate action by African
governments and international leaders.
"Africa is the canary in the coalmine when it comes to
climate change. But if we don't fully know how much the canary
is suffering, it's not good for the canary or for the rest of
the world either," he said.