Harbinger of life in climate change When life disappears outside in Kuwait
Birds are also struggling with the heat.
Image: dpa
City trees have dried out in many parts of Kuwait.
Image: dpa
Fishermen have to work outside even in the heat.
Image: dpa
Shopping centers invite you to take a stroll in the cool climate.
Image: dpa
There are hardly any street vendors like Ali Habib outside in Kuwait because of the heat.
Image: dpa
Construction work is carried out illegally, sometimes even during the day.
Image: dpa
Birds are also struggling with the heat.
Image: dpa
City trees have dried out in many parts of Kuwait.
Image: dpa
Fishermen have to work outside even in the heat.
Image: dpa
Shopping centers invite you to take a stroll in the cool climate.
Image: dpa
There are hardly any street vendors like Ali Habib outside in Kuwait because of the heat.
Image: dpa
Construction work is carried out illegally, sometimes even during the day.
Image: dpa
Kuwait is considered one of the hottest places on earth. In summer, the country looks like a harbinger of climate change. The beaches are deserted, trees wither and anyone who wants to go jogging goes to the shopping center.
29.08.2024, 00:00
dpa
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- With temperatures of around 50 degrees Celsius, life in Kuwait only takes place indoors.
- Rising temperatures over the next few years could make large parts of the country unsuitable for human life.
- The export of oil - Kuwait has some of the largest oil reserves in the world - has brought prosperity, skyscrapers and twelve-lane highways.
- The proportion of renewable energies in Kuwait is actually set to reach 15 percent by 2030 - the latest figure for electricity generation was just 0.2 percent.
When Ali Habib can no longer stand it outside at around 50 degrees Celsius, he gets up from his chair under a parasol on a sweltering street corner, sits in his car and runs the air conditioning for a while. Habib, who sells sunflower seeds to drivers here for more than twelve hours a day, knows what it feels like to spend a summer in extreme heat. Hot air blows over Kuwait as if from an oven. Breathing is difficult, skin and hair heat up within minutes. If you don't have to, you don't spend any time outside during the day.
Kuwait, geographically squeezed between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, seems like a harbinger of life in a changing climate. In times when very hot regions become uninhabitable and everyday life takes place mainly indoors. Rising temperatures over the next 50 to 75 years could make large parts of the country unsuitable for human habitation, writes the Kuwait Times, citing figures from the environmental authority. According to a Harvard study, 13 out of 100 deaths could then be attributable to climate change.
"As if the outside world didn't exist"
Many of the wealthy inhabitants only leave their air-conditioned homes and offices in summer to drive to air-conditioned shopping centers or stores and restaurants in air-conditioned cars. "It's almost as if the outside world doesn't exist," Kuwait-based architect Sharifa al-Schalfan told the Guardian.
At 53.9 degrees, Mitribah outside Kuwait City recorded the third-highest temperature in the world in 2016, as verified by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Only Death Valley in California (56.7 degrees - 1913) and Kebili in Tunisia (55.0 degrees - 1931) were hotter. The WMO is sticking to this data as long as there is no evidence to the contrary. In Kuwait, the 50-degree mark was already broken in May this year, the earliest it has been in decades.
"I come every day around half past six or seven," says a 50-year-old man who has come to the "Avenues", a kind of air-conditioned village for shopping and eating, wearing green sneakers and a cap. Cold air streams in from wall pipes, you shiver, your nose gets blocked. Birds fly under the glass roof. "It feels like you're walking outside," says one New Zealander enthusiastically. Some malls have dedicated lanes for walking and jogging on the upper floors.
Dead fish wash up, palm trees die off
Outside, where the sun continues to beat down, animals and plants have long since noticed the heat stress. A local journalist reports that stray cats are brought into veterinary practices in the summer after suffering from heat exhaustion. Birds would lie dead on the roofs of houses because they could find neither shade nor water. Dead fish were washed up on the shore several times, apparently no longer getting enough oxygen in the water of the hot bay.
On Kuwait's waterfront promenade, pigeons can be seen jostling in the shade of a palm tree. City trees are dying on sidewalks, even the heat-resistant palm trees are withering on the side of the road, leaving light brown leaves hanging.
40 degrees over several hours can be fatal
With very high humidity on the coast of Kuwait, for example, the body can no longer cool down by sweating, says doctor Andrea Nakoinz from the German Alliance on Climate Change and Health. Sweat no longer evaporates on the skin, which would otherwise provide cooling. "Then over 40 degrees for several hours can be fatal."
High-energy air-conditioned buildings are not the final solution either. The air from the air conditioning systems dries out the airways and makes them more susceptible to germs, says Nakoinz. What's more: "If I'm always sitting in air-conditioned rooms, I can't adapt to the heat. Stepping out from 18 to 40 degrees can lead to circulatory collapse in people who are already ill."
Kuwait's dilemma is oil, first discovered in 1938. The export - Kuwait has some of the largest oil reserves in the world - has brought prosperity, skyscrapers and twelve-lane highways. At the same time, the state and its inhabitants have become dependent on this raw material, which the world will have to say goodbye to if it wants to curb the consequences of climate change such as extreme heat. The proportion of renewable energies in Kuwait should actually be 15 percent by 2030 - according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), it recently amounted to just 0.2 percent of electricity generation. In few countries is electricity consumption as high as in Kuwait, and it is rising.
A liter of petrol is cheaper than a liter of cola
"Oil and gas keep us moving" and "fuel our world", says a museum near the largest oil field, Burgan. To animate black streaks, "our oil" is described there as "our people", "our world" and "our future". Oil stands for progress, it is national pride and not, as environmental activists in Europe believe, a dirty climate killer. In the museum store in Kuwait, the mascot is a laughing oil drum with a helmet and blue oil worker overalls in children's sizes.
Kuwait has the cheapest petrol in the Gulf, says the owner of a tourism company. Because petrol is subsidized by the state, a liter of Super costs the equivalent of around 60 euro cents at the filling station, which is less than a liter of Coca-Cola. When he parks and gets out for 15 or 20 minutes, the man leaves the engine running to keep his SUV nice and cool. His fuel consumption is between 14 and 20 liters per 100 kilometers.
Some of the few pedestrians you see at crossroads protect themselves from the sun and exhaust fumes with umbrellas and scarves. Most of the beaches are deserted, with only a few hardy people frying in the midday heat or dipping their feet in the water.
The heat mainly affects the poorest
As in other regions of the world, the consequences of climate change hit the poorest first. On building sites in the suburb of Chaitan, you meet men from India or Sri Lanka mixing cement, laying water pipes and covering ceilings. Outdoor work is actually prohibited between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. in summer. These migrant workers, who make up around two thirds of Kuwait's population, are particularly at risk of health problems in the heat and "bear the brunt", writes the World Health Organization.
Egyptians bring their catch ashore at the fish market at 48 degrees Celsius. "What am I supposed to do?" says Hamid Mohammed Issa, who has been working in Kuwait for 42 years. Sweat runs down his forehead like water. "I have to earn my living."
