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How might climate change affect human systems?
1. Impact of climate change on human systems
a) geographically uneven due to climate variables and localised economic and social factors
b) impacts are interconnected and cascaded from natural systems to people
2. Direct impact of climate change on human systems
a) occurs through extreme weather events
b) including heat waves, droughts, floods, cyclones and wildfires
3. Indirect impact of climate change on human systems
a) affects provisioning ecosystem services including food production, and regulating ecosystem services including disease regulation
b) alters cultural ecosystem services including melting of arctic ice and degradation of natural landscapes
How different extreme weather events affect humans directly:
Heat waves
Droughts
Wildfires
Floods
Cyclones
Where are the areas affected by the heatwaves?
What are the social and economic impacts of the heat waves?
Why are the poor more vulnerable?
times.com/asia/record-heatwave-of-up-to-45-deg-c-scorches-much-of-asia-and-it-s-going-to-get-worse
Climate change impacts are interconnected and evidence has shown that there are indirect impacts on human systems through changes in the earth’s ecosystem services in the following ways:
provisioning ecosystem services including food production are affected,
regulating ecosystem services including disease regulation are affected, and
cultural ecosystem services, including melting of Arctic ice and degradation of natural landscapes, are destroyed, which affects economic returns
How climate change has impacts on:
i) fish production
ii) agricultural yield
Climate change and food security https://sites.google.com/a/moe.edu.sg/physical-geography-2023/weather-and-climate/topic-2-climate-change/climate-change-on-human-systems?authuser=0
Climate change and rice cultivation https://olevelgeog.blogspot.com/2018/09/rice-cultivation-and-climate-change.html
More frequent bouts of extreme weather - both dry and wet affect rice production negatively.
In 2019, Thailand experienced the lowest amount of rain for a decade, causing severe water shortages. The Mekong River fell to record low levels and rice cultivation suffered significantly. Increased rainfall over 2021 improved overall yields, it still resulted in widespread damage in many regions as the more intense rain cause rice fields to be flooded and rice plant to rot.
Only 26 per cent of the 8.1 million agricultural households in Thailand have access to irrigation system. With the majority of those farmers being ageing small operators with little education or access to technology, climate change is also expected to increase income inequalities.
Interactive on rice and climate change in Thailand
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/interactives/rice-and-climate-crisis-thailand-special-report-2636776
See how drought has affected water and food provisioning ecosystem services
How climate change has impact on insect-borne diseases
ST interactive on climate change
Increase in insect-borne disease
https://graphics.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/Interactives/2018/11/warm-mosquito/index.html
Food under threat
https://graphics.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/Interactives/2018/11/food-gone/index.html
Climate change can result in changes to natural landscapes, which affects the cultural services provided by ecosystems.
Cultural ecosystem services provide people with:
a sense of wellbeing, a sense of place, social cohesion, and recreational and tourism opportunities.
This has indirect impacts on humans as economic returns may also be affected.
For instance, as people desire to experience nature in their travels, the impacts of climate change on natural landscapes can affect economic returns for communities that provide tourist services, such as accommodation, food, or transport.
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