EPAThe temperature in Dubai is now relatively bearable
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 20:21
Judith van de Hulsbeek
editor Climate and Energy
Judith van de Hulsbeek
editor Climate and Energy
This year’s climate summit is in one of the hottest places in the world, in Dubai. It is winter now and that means maximum temperatures of about 25 to 28 degrees. But in summer it is a completely different story: 40 degrees is more the rule than the exception. It has also happened several times that the mercury has risen above 50 degrees. The high temperatures combined with the humidity make it unbearable to be outside on some days.
How do residents of Dubai experience those sweltering summers? Gynecologist Aagje Bais is Dutch, but lives and works in Dubai. She explains what she sees in her patients: “You wouldn’t expect it, but people here very often have a vitamin D deficiency.”
You get vitamin D through your skin when it comes into contact with the sun. But “because people spend six out of twelve months indoors, they are exposed to very little sun.” And another consequence of this is obesity.
Bais says that people also adapt. “You go for a run in the mall, a little more to the gym.” Without air conditioning it is unbearable. “Life then shifts to the evening and early morning.” This makes it extra enjoyable in winter, says Bais. “Now everyone is enjoying it.”
‘Hiding in the supermarket’
A group of men are standing on the street. They are from Sri Lanka and came to Dubai to work. They clean cars. That is easy to do in this weather, says one of them. Not in the summer. “Your shirt is soaked with sweat in no time, sometimes I take it off in between to wash.” It can get so hot that he takes shelter in the supermarket. “There’s air conditioning there.”
Many migrants from India or Pakistan, for example, live in the Emirates. They do the work in the sun. In the summer it is now prohibited to work outside at the hottest time of the day, between 12 noon and 3 p.m. But according to Joey Shea of human rights organization Human Rights Watch, that is not enough.
“It is also very hot before noon and after three. And we have also heard of cases where employees had to continue working.” Shea talks about the ‘kavala system’: many migrants come here at the invitation of their employers. This determines the legal status of an employee and can therefore also decide whether someone can stay in the country. “They will therefore not quickly unite in a union, or ask for heat leave, for example.”
Dangerous heat
Due to global warming it is getting hotter. Temperatures are also peaking in Dubai. It becomes dangerous if the humidity is also very high. The combination of temperature and humidity is measured with the so-called ‘wet bulb temperature’.
According to scientists You can develop serious health problems with a wet bulb temperature of 28 degrees, but above 35 degrees this can be fatal. That temperature has already been measured in the United Arab Emirates, as well as in Pakistan, Mexico and Australia.
Ayshka Najib is a student and climate activist, including for Unicef. She has lived in Dubai all her life and dreads the summers. “Just sitting inside, I know it’s a privilege, that I have access to air conditioning.” Sometimes it is so hot that schools close. It has an effect on her mental well-being, she says. “I can’t go outside. I have no greenery around me.”
She says she is prone to depression anyway, but heat waves make it worse. “I’m becoming anxious, also about climate change, because it’s only getting warmer here, at a certain point you can’t live like this anymore.”
Najib is participating in the climate summit negotiations as a youth ambassador for Unicef. She hopes that agreements will be made this year that will put the world back on course to limit warming to an average of 1.5 degrees. “We are moving to a world that will become three degrees warmer. What that means for us is simply unimaginable.”
2023-12-08 19:21:46
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