Solar geoengineering could redistribute malaria risk in developing countries
- Journal:
- Nature Communications
- Published:
- DOI:
- 10.1038/s41467-022-29613-w
- Affiliations:
- 11
- Authors:
- 8
Research Highlight
Tinkering with sunlight reflection could redistribute malaria
© flubydust/E+/Getty Images
Tackling climate change by reflecting more sunlight back into space might reduce incidences of malaria in some areas but increase them in others.
Radical schemes for mitigating the effects of global warming by increasing the amount of sunlight the land, oceans or atmosphere reflect have been proposed. But it’s unclear how much they would counteract threats to human health due to climate change.
Now, a team led by a researcher from the University of Cape Town in South Africa has investigated the effect that such solar geoengineering schemes would have on the incidence of malaria—the sixth highest cause of death in low-income countries.
Their analysis predicts that any benefits will be patchy, and there will be regional trade-offs in countries in the Global South. Worse, in the extreme-warming scenario, solar geoengineering could compound the situation by reversing the current decline in malaria infections.
References
- Nature Communications 13, 2150 (2022). doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29613-w