This year’s Nobel Peace Prize was jointly awarded to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former US Vice-president Al Gore for their contribution in raising awareness about this global issue and ways to avert its rapid onset. The recognition was also acknowledgment of the extent of the crisis at hand. One of the direct impacts of climate change is on human health. Cognizant of the risks involved, the World Health Organisation celebrated World Health Day on Monday with the theme of “protecting health from climate change”.

As the mercury rises, mosquitoes begin to move to higher altitudes from the Tarai, increasing the risk of malaria and dengue in hilly and mountainous regions. In case of floods and inundation, the warm climate also proves to be the perfect breeding ground for water borne diseases. Unseasonal fluctuation in temperature has also been linked to higher rates of Japanese encephalitis and kala-azar. Sadly, Nepal, which occupies just 0.03% of the earth’s land area, can do precious little to affect world climate patterns. But that does not mean that it should not do its bit, for itself and the world community at large, by protecting its forests, imposing carbon caps on industries and vehicles, improving disaster preparedness and advocating for a cleaner and greener world in international forums like SAARC, BIMSTEC and United Nations.