Can heat literally become uninhabitable? The answer is yes: scientists say so, and it is already being felt first-hand in Pakistan and in Ras al-Khaimah.
In the draft of the Sixth Assessment Report, circulated to the press at the end of June, experts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Ipcc) outlined a future of uninhabitable heat, species extinction, epidemics, ecosystem collapse, and cities threatened by rising sea levels. A future that might seem all too apocalyptic, were it not the logical consequence of that global warming about which scientists have been doing everything in their power to draw our attention for years now. Indeed, in some parts of the world this is not a forecast but reality, already today. Such is the case of Jacobabad, in Pakistan, and the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah. Two cities that have already reached a temperature considered incompatible with human survival.
Thanks to its thermoregulatory capacity, the human body is able to withstand extreme temperatures — even 60 degrees Celsius, or as high as 100 if the exposure is brief. This, however, requires the air to be dry and to allow sweat to evaporate, cooling the body down. But when the thermometer consistently exceeds 35 degrees at a humidity level of 90 per cent, the mechanism breaks down and body temperature rises. "We can start to experience vision problems, dizziness, neurological disorders," sports cardiologist Laurent Uzan explained to a French television channel. In the most severe cases, this can lead to coma, convulsions and serious cardiac and renal complications.
Jacobabad, in the province of Sindh, Pakistan, is experiencing exactly this kind of climate. Its 200,000 inhabitants have always been accustomed to scorching summers, given that the city lies right on the Tropic of Cancer and the sun's rays strike it perpendicularly at the summer solstice. The situation, however, is deteriorating rapidly. Humid air arriving from the Arabian Sea has helped push temperatures past the 52 degrees Celsius mark, and all indications point to the trend worsening further. Power cuts are increasingly frequent, as are hospital admissions for heart attacks and other cardiac problems, given that only the most fortunate residents have air conditioning at home.
The other city to have exceeded the 52-degree threshold — conventionally regarded as uninhabitable — is Ras al-Khaimah. Overlooking the Persian Gulf, it is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. In recent days, videos have been circulating showing violent thunderstorms battering the territory; the catch, however, is that this is artificial rain.
Using technologies developed thanks to the multimillion-dollar investments of the Emirati authorities, drones reach the clouds and release electrical charges that encourage water vapour to condense. The result is the rainfall downpours, designed to bring relief to the desert climate that characterises the area. A palliative, certainly not a solution.
