BANGKOK (AP): Countries that start battling global warming now won't have to wait generations to see the rewards: burning cleaner fuels can yield immediate health benefits that save lives and money, world health experts say.
Big developing countries like China and India can play a huge role in improving health by expanding their use of cleaner energy sources, said Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, a scientist on global environmental change and health at the World Health Organization in Geneva.
"The policy options that you choose to try to cut (carbon dioxide) emissions also have very important health effects," he said by phone. "If you choose the right ones, then you can certainly have a win-win at cutting CO2 emissions and directly benefiting health."
Urban air pollution, for example, kills about 800,000 people a year globally. More than half of those deaths occur in China, the world's second-largest greenhouse gas emitter after the United States.
Promoting walking or bicycling instead of driving could further reduce major health problems like diabetes and heart disease that are striking many rapidly developing countries, Campbell-Lendrum said.
A climate report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a UN network of 2,000 scientists, was being hammered out for a fourth day Thursday in Bangkok by delegates from more than 120 countries. A final version was expected by Friday.
Much of the talks have centered around the high cost of promoting greener policies, but WHO experts said governments should consider how much they could save in medical costs by taking measures now to minimize heat waves, disease and water scarcity that will come as temperatures rise.
"Prevention is cheaper than cure," said Hisashi Ogawa, regional adviser for healthy settings and environment at the WHO's regional Western Pacific office in Manila. "Disease and deaths will occur, but the economy will be affected because sick people cannot produce services and products, so GDP will godown."
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