County-level heat vulnerability of urban and rural residents in Tibet, China

Environmental Health

Research

Alistair Woodward¹  Li Bai²  Qiyong Liu³ 

[1] School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, 1142, Auckland, New Zealand;State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 155 Changbai Road, 102206, Beijing, Changping District, P. R. China;State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 155 Changbai Road, 102206, Beijing, Changping District, P. R. China;Shandong University Climate Change and Health Center, 44 WenHua Road, 250012, Jinan, Shangdong, P. R. China;

关键词: Tibet;    Climate change;    Heat;    Vulnerability;    Urban;    Rural;    Adaption;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12940-015-0081-0

 received in 2015-03-08, accepted in 2015-12-07,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTibet is especially vulnerable to climate change due to the relatively rapid rise of temperature over past decades. The effects on mortality and morbidity of extreme heat in Tibet have been examined in previous studies; no heat adaptation initiatives have yet been implemented. We estimated heat vulnerability of urban and rural populations in 73 Tibetan counties and identified potential areas for public health intervention and further research.MethodsAccording to data availability and vulnerability factors identified previously in Tibet and elsewhere, we selected 10 variables related to advanced age, low income, illiteracy, physical and mental disability, small living spaces and living alone. We separately created and mapped county-level cumulative heat vulnerability indices for urban and rural residents by summing up factor scores produced by a principal components analysis (PCA).ResultsFor both study populations, PCA yielded four factors with similar structure. The components for rural and urban residents explained 76.5 % and 77.7 % respectively of the variability in the original vulnerability variables. We found spatial variability of heat vulnerability across counties, with generally higher vulnerability in high-altitude counties. Although we observed similar median values and ranges of the cumulative heat vulnerability index values among urban and rural residents overall, the pattern varied strongly from one county to another.ConclusionsWe have developed a measure of population vulnerability to high temperatures in Tibet. These are preliminary findings, but they may assist targeted adaptation plans in response to future rapid warming in Tibet.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Bai et al. 2016