BRUSSELS, May 29 (IPS) – Jonas Bull is with the Disability Rights Department at Human Rights Watch. Spring traditionally brings welcome new beginnings. Daylight has increased, flowers have bloomed, and temperatures have become pleasantly warm. But in recent years, climate change has led to increasingly hotter summers in southern Europe, giving rise to legitimate fears of extreme heat. Older people, children, people with disabilities and people with mental health problems are among those at higher risk.
Leo, a 10-year-old boy from Seville whom I met while researching the impact of heat waves on disabled people in Andalusia, suffers from epidermolysis bullosa, or ‘butterfly skin’, a rare genetic disorder that causes blisters to form on the skin. A little touch. Sweating in the summer heat can cause more blisters to form, and open wounds can lead to dehydration.
Unlike most children in Andalusia, where summer means spending time at the beach with friends and family, for Leos summer is painful. Last summer, which was hotter than normal, was incredibly difficult for Leo, who was confined indoors for weeks.
Last summer, Spain recorded four heat waves, with extreme heat lasting a total of 24 days. Climate scientists have confirmed that rising temperatures in Spain are linked to climate change and expect the frequency and intensity of heat waves to increase. This means Leos may have to spend more time indoors this summer.
Disabled people we met last year said that, in addition to the physical and mental effects of the heat, they also felt abandoned by the government and lacked external support. Leo’s mother, Lydia, said authorities in her area have not contacted her family and given her no specific information on how to protect themselves during the heat wave.
This is because the Andalusian government, like other regional and national governments in Spain, has created a Heat Wave Action Plan mandating health and social care services to take specific measures between mid-May and September to respond and mitigate the impact on the population. It should have happened because of this. It involves reaching out to people at risk and providing support.
City officials and health department officials I interviewed acknowledged that the information they provided about heat management was not in a format that was accessible to people with a variety of disabilities.
And they had no overview of what emergency measures were activated across Andalusia, including where and to what extent cooling centers were open. Additionally, the central government does not collect data on deaths of disabled people due to heat waves.
The heat is already affecting people’s mental health, and a lack of meaningful outreach can exacerbate feelings of isolation and abandonment, coinciding with the long summer months when schools, many shops and offices are closed.
In other words, it is a lonely time for those who cannot leave home. I am concerned about a 75-year-old woman with psychosocial disabilities who lives alone in Córdoba. “When it gets hot, I feel anxious and irritable,” she said. She said: “At this stage I feel suicidal.”
Fortunately, governments are beginning to realize that they need to step up their efforts to fulfill their human rights obligations to protect at-risk populations. The Andalusian government has made significant efforts to improve its annual heat protection plan.
In January 2024, it said it would set up a system to monitor all measures related to this summer’s heatwave and would aim to work closely with civil society groups to better connect with communities, especially those at risk. These steps look promising.
Central governments are also taking steps to better protect people at risk. At the height of last summer’s heat wave, Spain had better warning systems, a strengthened health system and improved awareness across society.
It remains to be seen how these activities will be carried out and whether they will better protect those at risk. But it is becoming increasingly clear that people cannot be left alone to tackle the climate crisis, and that governments must do their part to protect them. This certainly applies to Andalusia and the rest of Spain, which is in for another hot and potentially record-breaking summer.
© Interpress Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Interpress Service
