Extreme heat threat rises for megacities
5 Apr 2017
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Shelter from the fierce sun in a packed market in Lagos, Nigeria | Zouzou Wizman |
By TIM RADFORD | The area of the world, and the numbers of city dwellers, exposed to serious risk from extreme heat will multiply later this century even if the world’s nations keep their promise and contain global warming to 2deg or less, according to new research.
If global warming is contained at 1.5deg – the ideal target identified at the 2015 climate summit in Paris − the researchers say the number of megacities, with populations over 10 million, in the danger zone will double from today’s figure, and the numbers of people exposed to potentially lethal heat stroke and heat exhaustion could reach 350 million by 2050.
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