Last month’s intense heatwave in South Sudan, which prompted authorities to close schools for two weeks, was made at least 10 times more likely by climate change, according to new research by World Weather Attribution.
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Heat disproportionally affects the livelihood of women in South Sudan, according to a new study that looks at the impacts of a recent heatwave in the country.
Dozens of students collapsed from heat stroke last month, as an intense heatwave prompted South Sudanese authorities to close schools for two weeks.
Aya Benjamin Warille, Acting Minister of Health, urged the population to avoid outdoor activities, stay hydrated, and cool homes with fans or air conditioning when available as temperatures reached highs of 42C.
For many households and most schools in the country, however, cooling systems are not an options. The majority of education facilities have makeshift structures made of iron sheets and lack electricity. The government said an average of 12 students had been collapsing in the country’s capital Juba every day ahead of the school closures.
Women Unequally Impacted
In a country where more than 2.8 million children – or over 70% – are out of school, school closures during heatwaves can further worsen the situation, particularly for girls, according to scientists at the World Weather Attribution. The group’s latest study, which focused on last month’s heatwave, concluded that heat disproportionally affects women in South Sudan.
Aside from lowering the chances that they will return to school, school closures often mean girls take on household tasks like collecting water and cooking instead, which expose them to even higher temperatures.
Heat is extremely dangerous for humans as it compromises physiological processes meant to keep the body cool, heightening the risk of heatstroke and other heat-related illnesses. It can be life-threatening if not promptly treated.
Intense heat is also a threat to pregnant women, as it increases the chance of miscarriage and stillbirths. For South Sudan, where 1,223 women die for every 100,000 births, this is particularly worrying.
World Weather Attribution co-lead Friederike Otto said the study highlighted how people already affected by inequality also experience disproportionate harm from human-made climate change.
“Unyielding gender roles, the need to care for children and a lack of other options than exposing
themselves to excruciating heat, means that in war-torn South Sudan, each of the now frequent
heatwaves hits women more, deepening the divide between the genders,” Otto said.
Climate Change
The study also looked at the role human-made climate change, which is driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, played in last month’s heatwave. The increase in extreme heat globally is a direct result of our warming planet, which is driven by greenhouse gasses that trap heat in the atmosphere. This raises Earth’s surface temperature, leading to longer and hotter heatwaves.
It concluded that climate change has made the heat event at least 10 times more likely and some 2C hotter. It also warned that similar events are no longer a rare event in South Sudan, and can occur about once a decade in today’s climate, which is about 1.3C warmer than pre-industrial times. In a 2.6C warming scenario – a realistic scenario under current global emissions reduction pledges – they could occur as often as every year.
Featured image: UNMISS/Flickr.
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