Impacts of warming on outdoor worker well-being in the tropics and adaptation options

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2024-03-15

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Abstract

Over a billion outdoor workers live in the tropics, where nearly a fifth of all hours in the year are hot and humid enough to exceed recommended safety thresholds for workers conducting heavy labor. Reviews have focused on heat impacts on worker health, well-being, and productivity, but synthesis on how to increase resilience to heat for outdoor workers is lacking. Here we assess current and future heat exposure in the tropics and review four bodies of literature on heat impacts on workers. We also synthesize knowledge about mitigation and adaptation uncertainties as well as the actions that can be taken to strengthen worker resilience. We show that under an additional 1°C of warming, ∼800 million people in the tropics will live in areas where heavy work should be limited for over half of the hours in the year. Our review provides primary, secondary, and tertiary solutions that will inform policies and practices as well as research that is needed to bolster worker resilience and well-being.

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10.1016/j.oneear.2024.02.001

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Masuda, YJ, LA Parsons, JT Spector, DS Battisti, B Castro, JT Erbaugh, ET Game, T Garg, et al. (2024). Impacts of warming on outdoor worker well-being in the tropics and adaptation options. One Earth, 7(3). pp. 382–400. 10.1016/j.oneear.2024.02.001 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/31565.

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Scholars@Duke

Parsons

Luke Parsons

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Luke Parsons is a climate researcher and lecturer. He teaches about climate change and climate impacts and studies climate dynamics, drought, and climate change + deforestation + emissions impacts on the environment, human health, well-being, and the economy. In addition to his work as a researcher, Luke is also a Wilderness First Responder and former NOLS instructor who enjoys backpacking, climbing, and taking panoramic landscape photographs.

Peter Kalmus

Adjunct Professor in the Division of Earth and Climate Science
Shindell

Drew Todd Shindell

Nicholas Distinguished Professor of Earth Science

Drew Shindell is Nicholas Professor of Earth Science at Duke University. From 1995 to 2014 he was at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City and taught at Columbia University. He earned his Bachelor's at UC Berkeley and PhD at Stony Brook University, both in Physics. He studies climate change, air quality, and links between science and policy. He has been an author on >250 peer-reviewed publications, received awards from Scientific American, NASA, the NSF and the EPA, and is a fellow of AGU and AAAS.

He has testified on climate issues before both houses of the US Congress (at the request of both parties), developed a climate change course with the American Museum of Natural History, and made numerous media appearances as part of his outreach efforts. He chaired the 2011 UNEP/WMO Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Tropospheric Ozone, and was a Coordinating Lead Author on the 2013 Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC and on the 2018 IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C. He also chairs the Scientific Advisory Panel to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition of nations and organizations.


 


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