Global Warming Pushing Tropical Regions Toward Limits of Human Livability, Says Research

The climate crisis has been leading the planet toward a time where life will be miserable and ultimately difficult to bloom amid the scorching heat. According to new research, tropical regions are moving toward extreme limits of human livability amid the rising global temperatures. With rising temperatures and humidity, the world’s population is threatened to plunge into potentially lethal living conditions.

The study warns that if the global community fails to curb the global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial era, the changing environmental conditions across the areas in the tropical band that is stretched either side of the equator will reach the limit of human adaptation.

According to new research, tropical regions are moving toward extreme limits of human livability amid the rising global temperatures | Image: Noah Seelam/AFP

Published in Nature Geoscience, the study states that humans’ ability to adjust their body heat is dependent upon the temperature and humidity of the surrounding air, but if temperature and humidity exceed the levels where the human body is unable to cool itself, the consequences could be potentially deadly.

Yi Zhang, a Princeton University researcher who led the new study, said,

If it is too humid our bodies can’t cool off by evaporating sweat – this is why humidity is important when we consider livability in a hot place. High body core temperatures are dangerous or even lethal.

After analyzing various historical data and simulations to determine how wet-bulb temperature (a measure of air temperature and humidity) extremes will change with the warming planet, the research team found that these extremes in the tropics rise at about the same rate as the tropical mean temperature. The findings indicate that the world’s temperature rise needs to be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid risking the lives in the tropical regions.

The research notes that harmful conditions in the tropics will disclose even before the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold, as the 1 degrees Celsius of extreme temperature rise could have adverse health impacts. This has potentially disastrous implications on all of humanity as around 40 percent of the world’s population currently lives in tropical regions.

The study is just another addition to the long list of warnings that scientists and various researchers have issued regarding global warming since the beginning of this century. Extreme heatwaves could lead parts of the Middle East beyond human endurance, with rising temperatures also posing huge risks for parts of China and India.

If strict measures are not taken immediately in this regard, the human race could face the threat of extinction. Unsurprisingly, the food security is already dwindling, the rainfall patterns are shifting, and the scorching heat is leading toward an apocalyptic future.