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American Journal of  
Environment and Climate (AJEC)

Role of  Climate Change During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Salum Haji Hamisi1*, Abdillah Mussa Kitota2

Volume 1 Issue 3, Year 2022
ISSN: 2832-403X (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54536/ajec.v1i3.760
https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajec

Article Information ABSTRACT

Received: October 13, 2022

Accepted: November 13, 2022

Published: November 27, 2022

Climate change has become a topic of  concern around the world. Many aspects of  human 
well-being are affected by climate change. The social, economic, political, ecological 
and cultural development was influenced directly or indirectly. This paper has examined 
the role of  climate change during the current period of  the COVID-19 pandemic. The 
documentary analysis method was chosen. Various books, research reports, WHO databases 
and internet sources have been used extensively. Various literature shows that climate change 
may have played a significant role in the widespread effects of  the COVID-19 pandemic. 
COVID-19 affects people with compromised immunity. The weakened immunity results 
from some diseases and treatments that weaken the body’s immunity. These include chronic 
lung diseases such as chronic asthma, some cancers, high blood pressure (hypertension), 
HIV / AIDS, and some developmental diseases. As a result, people become vulnerable to 
COVID-19. Poor diet also causes people to have weak immunity and become less resistant 
to the coronavirus. Poor nutrition results from changes in the climate pattern; Unavailability 
of  sufficient and high-quality food, low production of  sufficient food, and inaccessibility 
of  high-quality food due to poverty. The world must take serious steps to stop excessive 
greenhouse gas emissions. If  not, the human species will die as new diseases and viruses will 
emerge to take our lives as COVID-19 did.

Keywords
Climate Change, COVID-19, 
Pandemic, Weather and Climate 

1 Department of  Geography, Muslim University of  Morongo, Tanzania
2 Department of  Biology, Muslim University of  Morongo, Tanzania 
* Corresponding author’s e-mail: hamissalum704@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION
Climate change has preoccupied the world for several 
years. It is a slogan along with poverty alleviation, 
environmental problems and security. It is a very 
ancient phenomenon that was observed on the surface 
of  the earth when humans made advances in terms of  
technological development. Climate change is defined as 
a climate change that is directly or indirectly attributed 
to human activities that change the composition of  the 
global atmosphere and that, in addition to natural climate 
variability, are observed over comparable periods (Patz et 
al., 2015).
It has been found that the sun emits the sun rays, which 
pass through the electromagnetic spectrum, which is 
made up of  ultraviolet and infrared. Scientists agree that 
1/3 of  solar radiation is reflected from the atmosphere 
and the earth’s surface and 2/3 is absorbed by water 
(Romm 2016). Increasing land use and fossil fuel burning 
have increased over time around the world. The activities 
mentioned increasing the emission of  greenhouse gases 
into the atmosphere. 
This causes carbon dioxide (Co2), methane (CH2), and 
nitric oxide (N2O) gas to be released into the atmosphere. 
The rise in greenhouse gases traps the heat that should be 
radiated back into the room. At some point, greenhouse 
gases act like a partial blanket that keeps our earth warm 
(60 F). If  our earth did not have an atmosphere to let solar 
energy pass through, there could be no life because the 
temperature of  the earth’s surface would have been -180 
C and our planet would be a giant ace sphere. Greenhouse 
gas is also important for our earth. Climate change has 
preoccupied the world for several years. It is a slogan 

along with poverty alleviation, environmental problems 
and security. It is a very ancient phenomenon that was 
observed on the surface of  the earth when humans made 
advances in terms of  technological development. Climate 
change is defined as a climate change that is directly or 
indirectly attributed to human activities that change 
the composition of  the global atmosphere and that, in 
addition to natural climate variability, are observed over 
comparable periods (Patz et al., 2015). 
According to  Epstein et al., 2011 claim that the air over 
the Antarctic Peninsula has warmed by 6°C (11F) over the 
past decade due to climate change. Today the greenhouse 
increases the surface temperature by 320°C (McMichael 
et al., 2017). 
This literature clearly shows that our earth is getting 
warmer and warmer as human development progresses. 
More cars are being made worldwide these days, which 
means more fossil fuel burning and carbon dioxide 
emissions. It is estimated that by 2016 the world will have 
1.32 billion cars and buses. How are fossil fuels used 
and how are greenhouse gases added daily? In addition, 
industrial production is also growing to meet the demand 
for goods and services for almost 7.6 billion people on 
earth. 
The manufacturing, automotive, and construction 
industries; to mention only the few that intensely emit 
halocarbon and black carbon that in turn change the 
climate of  our precious earth. The United Nations 
Framework Call on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 
(UNFCC, 2007), outline the evidence for climate change: 
global warming, change in precipitation trend, melting 
ice cap, glaciers and snow, and rise in sea temperature 

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Am. J. Environ. Clim. 1(3) 12-16, 2022

on the earth’s surface. This has caused the sun’s heat to 
rise in the atmosphere, which under normal conditions 
could be reflected into space (UNFCCC, 2007). In the 
end, the generated heat leads to the greenhouse effect, 
which changes the earth’s climate tremendously. A small 
increase in sea surface temperature causes cyclone wind 
and rain, for example, Cyclone Haiyan in 2013, terribly 
devastated the Philippines was powered by energy from 
equatorial water that was only warmed 1-2 degrees above 
normal (McMichael et al., 2017). 
Maslin (2014) argues that climate change encompasses 
sociology, economy, geopolitics, national, international, 
and above all healthy one. Climate change has and affects 
the social and environmental determinants of  health 
(clean air, clean drinking water, adequate food and safe 
shelter). It has been found that due to the rise in heat 
due to climate change, the population exposed to it has 
increased worldwide. It was noted that between 2000 and 
2016, the number of  people exposed to heat increased 
by 125 million. In addition, 175 million additional people 
were exposed to the heat caused by climate change by 
2015 alone.  It is estimated that between 2020 and 2030, 
climate change will cause 250,000 additional deaths from 
malaria, malnutrition, diarrhoea and heat stress. It has 
been argued that excessive heat has psychological effects 

on all people that aggravate existing illnesses or make 
treatment more complex. Climate change has direct or 
indirect effects on the health of  people around the world. 
Cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in the elderly 
result from climate change. In terms of  the current 
phenomena of  COVID-19, climate change can have a 
major impact on it. This paper will discuss the role of  
climate change during this time of  Covid-19. The focus 
will be on the role of  climate change during COVID-19, a 
global pandemic. Before doing this, get an understanding 
of  the potential health effects of  climate change.

Potential Health Impacts of  Climate Change
Climate change interrupts the natural flow of  energy from 
the atmosphere via the earth’s surface to the atmosphere 
again. Climate change also affects human health through 
various complexities over time. It has been found that 
human life depends on the natural ecological and physical 
system. Any change in these systems also changes the 
human life support system. As a rule of  thumb, climate 
change will change the health pattern of  the human 
population. There is a way in which climate change will 
hurt the health of  the human population. 
As Figure 1 above shows, climate change involves 
changing the pattern of  heat waves, extreme weather 

Figure 1: Potential health impacts of  climate change. Sources: Adopted from Patz et al 2015(10)

conditions, temperatures, and rainfall. There are modelling 
factors as described; microbial contamination pathways, 
transmission dynamics, hydrology of  agroecosystems 
as well as social economy and demography. Each 
factor relates to various health effects: temperature-
related illnesses and deaths, extreme weather-related 
health effects, air pollution-related health effects, water 
and foodborne diseases, vector and rodent-borne 
diseases, the effects of  food and water shortages, and 
psychological, nutritional, infectious and other health 
effects. These health effects attack the human immune 
system. As age and immunity decrease, the population 
becomes vulnerable to COVID-19. A person suffering 

from any of  the above diseases becomes a victim of  a 
COVID-19 pandemic. The following section takes us 
through understanding what COVID-19 is. Where is it 
rooted and what impact it has?
 
COVID-19
It is a disease caused by a virus transmitted from person 
to person. It originated from Wuhan in China and spread 
to 228 countries and territories around the world and 
in 2 international modes of  transport (https://www.
worldometers.info/coronavirus/). The seafood market 
in Wuhan’s Huanan; which previously sold live fish, 
poultry and birds is believed to be the epicentre of  this 

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Am. J. Environ. Clim. 1(3) 12-16, 2022

outbreak, which is why it is simply referred to as the 
Wuhan coronavirus. On January 8, 2020, the etiological 
agent of  this outbreak was identified as the novel 
coronavirus 2019 (2019-nCoV) and its genetic sequence 
was quickly reported to the WHO. On January 30th, the 
WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency 
of  International Concern (PHEIC). 
On February 12, 2020, the International Committee on 
the Taxonomy of  Viruses (ICTV) stated that 2019-Nov 
was officially designated as Severe Acute Respiratory 
Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and on the 
same day, the WHO declared the through. SARS-CoV-2 
was officially referred to as Coronavirus Disease 2019 
(COVID-19). The experts found it difficult to track down 
the main root of  this virus as the market in the Wuhan 
market closed on January 1, 2020.
Some experts use their fingers to point to bats as a 
possible source of  the virus, which is transmitted through 
intermediate hosts such as pangolins; that are illegally 
sold on  Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Market to humans 
(Rabi et al., 2020; Osler, 2019). The next section looks at 
the role of  climate change during COVID-19. According 
to Osler, 2019, the Wuhan coronavirus is a highly 
transmitted influenza, of  which scientists found it viral in 
connection with SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. When the 
full genome of  the SAR-CoV-2 was sequenced, it shared 
79.5% of  the genetic sequence of  the SARS-CoV that 
caused the 20022003 pandemic (Rabi et al., 2020).

Role of  Climate Change During Covid-19
SAR-CoV-2 and Weather Condition
In the case of  infectious diseases, it is important to take 
into account the influence of  weather conditions such 
as temperature, Cold or heat, and moisture; the mass of  
water vapour in a unit mass of  moist air. This is because 
weather conditions are one of  the important components 
of  disease causation (Baker et al., 2018; Deventer and 
Hochberg, 2016). This is obvious because viruses and 
other infectious agents occur in our environment. In 
the event of  COVID-19, once infectious droplets land 
on different surfaces, their ability to survive on those 
surfaces determines whether contact transmission is 
possible or not. Based on our current understanding of  
other beta coronaviruses; including SARS and MERS, 
coronaviruses can survive; and remain infectious for 2 
hours up to 9 days on inanimate surfaces such as plastic, 
glass and metal, with increased survival rates in drier 
and colder environments (or regions). Based on this 
understanding, various governments have been reported 
to have disinfected various inanimate surfaces to contain 
the virus. Cleaning of  surfaces with common biocides; 
like sodium hypochlorite and ethanol, is very effective in 
inactivating the coronavirus within 1 minute of  exposure 
(Rabi et al., 2020)

SAR-CoV-2 and the Climatic Condition
Climate; is the weather conditions in an area in general 
or over a longer period that have a general impact 

on infectious diseases such as COVID-19. A large-
scale study carried out through critical analysis of  
the data from the official sources of  the Ministry of  
Health of  all countries as well as from the World-Info-
Meter ofCOVID-19(https://www.worldometers.info/
coronavirus/) has shown a relationship between climate 
and infection rate of  COVID-19 (Iqbal et al., 2020). In 
this study, the authors collected data on COVID-19 cases 
from the 1st reported case (in Wuhan, China) to June 5, 
2020, in various affected countries and regional climate 
parameters; such as meteorological data, from January 
2020 to June 5, 2020. Overall, it has been found that 
many countries in the relatively lower temperature region 
have a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases than those 
in warmer region Climatic regions despite their better 
social and economic conditions. Many other studies 
also looked at this relationship between the COVID-19 
infection rate and climate conditions. For example, 
studies using a regression framework have examined the 
role of  temperature and relative and specific humidity in 
the spread of  COVID-19, suggesting that dry and cold 
conditions increase the rate of  infection of  COVID-19 
(Bukhari and Jameel, 2020; Ma et al., 2020 in Beker et al., 
2020).

COVID-19 and Climate Change
Many kinds of  literature address the relationship between 
climate change and COVID-19 in terms of  the impact 
of  climate change on susceptibility to COVID-19. As 
mentioned earlier, climate change has and affects the 
social and environmental determinants of  health and 
safety, such as clean air, safe drinking water, adequate food 
and safe shelter. Zavaleta-Cortijo et al., (2020) looked at 
the connection between one of  these determinants and 
COVID-19. They say climate change is affecting the food 
systems of  indigenous peoples, making them vulnerable 
to food and nutrition insecurity. Then food and nutrition 
insecurity undermines their immunity status, subsequently 
making them vulnerable to COVID-19. 
Similar soil is used for other effects of  climate change: 
sunburn due to global warming, mutation due to depletion 
of  the ozone layer, air and water pollution due to emission 
of  harmful gases or chemicals and other effects can affect 
the immune status of  people due to the development 
of  various diseases such as respiratory diseases such 
as Asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 
cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction and 
heart attack, chronic kidney disease of  unknown origin 
and diseases of  the genetic makeup of  people such 
as cancer, etc. It is medically known that people with 
weakened immunity are at a higher risk of  contracting 
SAR-CoV -2 and being severely affected by COVID-19 
(Rabi et al., 2020). There are also more speculative 
discussions about how the occurrence of  pandemics can 
be linked to climate change. It is reported that from 2°C 
of  global warming, the possibility of  reaching tipping 
points such as the melting of  the Arctic permafrost 
becomes relatively great and the global warm the earth 

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at 1.5 (IPCC,2018; This underscores the question of  
whether rising temperatures could revive old viruses; now 
frozen to which we could be as vulnerable as Covid-19 
(Da Silva, 2020). 
On the other hand, the COVID-19 outbreak has been 
reported to reduce the production of  the causative agents 
of  climate change due to the decline in lock-related 
production activities (Damani, 2020; Geladari et al., 2020).  
For example, it has reduced China’s CO2 emissions by a 
quarter and led to improvements in air quality that could 
eventually save more lives than the virus killed (Geladari 
et al., 2020). However, these climate change factors, such 
as greenhouse gas emissions, are expected to counter-
increase as climate advocates return to facing the real 
problems. This offers a lesson for everyone involved. 

Prevalence and Mortality of  COVID-19: Reasons for 
the Big Differences Around the World 
When we examine the COVID-19 data reported by 
the World-Info-Meter of  COVID-19 (https://www.
worldometers.info/coronavirus/) and from various 
studies such as Al-Tawfiq et al. (2020)  analyzed. , 
we see a very large variation in its death rates. Are 
there plausible descriptions of  the larger variations in 
COVID-19 prevalence across countries? The answer is 
yes, there are plausible descriptions for this variant. One 
study suggested that this prevalence variability could be 
due to differences in transmission and migration rates 
(Nehru et al., 2020). In this article, we add the variability 
of  weather and climatic conditions as additional factors 
for the transmission of  SAR-CoV-2 and climate change 
in general as an additional factor for the severity of  
COVID-19. In addition, Neher et al., 2020 in Al-Tawfiq 
et al., 2020 have highlighted that climatic conditions; 
largely associated with climate change, are one possible 
explanation for the increased transmission of  COVID-19 
and the occurrence of  outbreaks in the community in 
countries with temperatures of  511 °C and low humidity.

DISCUSSION
As the literature shows, climate change played a 
significant role during COVID-19. As mentioned 
earlier, the COVID-19 pandemic has mainly affected 
dry countries and countries with lower attitudes than 
the wettest countries. According to Neher et al., 2020 
in Al-Tawfiq et al., 2020, climatic conditions; which are 
essentially linked to climate change, are postulated as 
a possible explanation for the increased transmission 
of  COVID-19 and the occurrence of  outbreaks in the 
community in countries with a temperature of  511 ° C. 
In another context, this pattern is similar to the seasonal 
flu pattern, also caused by viruses. Climate changes have 
had an impact on the environment and the health of  
people around the world. Climate change is changing the 
environmental security of; clean air, safe drinking water, 
adequate food and safe shelter. Currently, people live 
at high risk for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. 
These conditions pose two risks for people: the risk 

of  becoming susceptible to SAR-CoV-2 and the risk 
of  becoming seriously ill with COVID-19 (severity of  
COVID-19) after being infected with SAR-CoV-2. 
In addition, the food security system is affected by 
climate change. Climate change changes the theoretical 
weather and climate pattern, as in some areas more or 
fewer rain falls than normal. This situation affects the 
community production system around the world. This 
leads to a food shortage; characterized by nutritional 
diseases and weakened immunity, a situation that makes 
people vulnerable to COVID-19. Because of  the low 
production, buying good quality food will also be 
expensive and poor people will be more vulnerable to the 
COVID-19 pandemic.
Even though the experts have not yet presented clear 
scientific evidence showing the root source of  SAR-
CoV-2, this novel virus could be rooted in the climate 
change aspect; like global warming and the like which, 
according to Da Silva, 2020, are their contributions to the 
evolution of  species; especially new strains of  the virus, 
can never be ignored. And we should remember that one 
of  the existing theories about the origin of  SAR-CoV-2 is 
that it could have evolved from the previous coronavirus 
species due to the combination of  environmental and 
genetic factors (Anderson et al., 2020; Rabi et al., 2020). 
The world has a complex system in which one system is 
related to or dependent on another system. For example, 
food systems have to do with climate, just as food systems 
have to do with health systems. Changing the pattern of  
a system affects all systems and creates a very complex 
situation that is difficult to resolve.

CONCLUSION
This paper discussed climate change, and evidence of  
climate change worldwide was discussed. Likewise, the 
root of  COVID-19 when was officially recognized. 
Followed by a discussion on the role of  weather and 
climate change in the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, 
the discussion on the role of  climate change during 
COVID-19 was briefly covered. Final remarks, the world 
must take good care of  our earth by stopping or not 
reducing the excessive production of  greenhouse gases. 
Otherwise, the human species will die from disease, 
viruses, disasters, and starvation. Proof  of  this is in the 
effects of  COVID-19, which is crippling not just the 
individual but the economy worldwide.

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