Climate change beginning to bite

Now even the deadly mosquito is affected by climate change. Photo/File

Imagine a world without mosquitoes. We'd be knocking off the top global killer of humans - responsible for an estimated 725,000 deaths each year. Got to be good right?

Mosquitoes also knock down hundreds of millions of people each year, making their lives miserable - even terminal - predominantly those already doing it tough in Third World conditions.

I am one of those people who mosquitoes seek out - not enough Marmite or something, they say. They love me - but it's not mutual.

I have some sort of mosquito obsession and have been known to turn on all the lights in the middle of the night and jump around on the bed chasing my tormentor.

But while lounging in luxury around the pool in Fiji last month, there were no mosquitoes. It took a few days to twig. And along with the lack of the evil high-pitched whine dive-bombing me at dusk, I also noticed a lack of flies and even moths. Once we recognised it, it was decidedly weird.

On return to New Zealand and re-embracing my use of the internet, I googled and discovered there's been a dengue fever outbreak in Fiji so the tourist areas, where we were staying, have been hit hard with mosquito control.

Now I don't want my kids or me getting dengue fever so I need to tread carefully. I also don't want vulnerable people outside tourist areas of Fiji suffering needlessly either. Inequity in control is unfair, even if protecting the tourism income makes sense.

But we need to discuss what happens when you remove a small piece of the ecosystem puzzle. What happens when you remove a food source? How does it impact on the rest of nature? Are we all connected, even mosquitoes? And dare I say it, how is this connected to climate change?

In September, Japan has reported an outbreak of dengue fever with 80-plus cases. Mosquitoes are on the move and it is due, in part, to climate change. In my former home of Western Australia, the southern migration of Ross River virus was the concern.

The changes in our rainfall and temperature means the tropical homes for these disease-carrying mosquito species are no longer confined to the developing world around the equator. When does the sub-tropical north of New Zealand become a home for these mosquitoes? Perhaps thinking selfishly is necessary to sheet home the reality of climate change.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had its first global conference on climate change in Geneva in late August. This is a pretty credible group of educated professionals taking climate change seriously, although it's not just mosquitoes.

Closer to home, modelling in Australia shows a jump in the number of deaths that will result from the increase in the number of extremely hot days. While 173 died in the Black Saturday fires of 2009, it is less well known that 374 people died in the five-day heatwave immediately preceding this tragedy.

We simply can't keep chasing every last drop of oil as fuel. We need investment in alternatives, incentives and offsets. Now, there's only so much I can do as an individual, before it comes down to our political masters and investment of tax dollars.

I chose to live somewhere that's easy to walk most places, I'm getting reacquainted with my bicycle, I'm working on my husband for a hybrid car, rejecting single-use plastic bags and recycling the plastic I'm stuck with, I'm buying in-season local food and I'm supporting the Green Party with its target of carbon neutrality by 2050.

Yes, flying to Fiji in pursuit of relaxation contributes to my carbon footprint, although Fiji will be off the holiday list if the beachside resorts are underwater with sea level rise.

New Zealand's net emissions have doubled since 1990 - the current Government's target of a 5 per cent reduction on our 1990 level by 2020 seems fanciful. We need a new way. I am one of nearly 60,000 Kiwis who's signed on as a Climate Voter - join me at www.climatevoter.org.nz and vote with our future climate in mind.

Nicola Young is a former Department of Conservation manager who now works for global consultancy AECOM. Educated at Wanganui Girls' College, she has a science degree and is the mother of two boys.