Organisations like Lake Development Authority should be given more powers to safeguard precious natural resources, environmentalist and film maker Suresh Heblikar said here.

Speaking at the 60th World Health Day celebrations organised by the Department of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday Heblikar said that studies have shown that for millenniums, there has been no marked climatic change except in the last two hundred years, due to Industrial Revolution, rapid population growth and technological  advancements which has had an adverse impact on health and environment.

He said infrastructure and development have come at the cost of environment and only political will and people’s movements could put pressure on the decision makers.  

Chief Secretary PB Mahashi said climate change indirectly causes diseases like Malaria, dengue fever and diarrhoea. Developing countries are worst affected with 30 lakh people dying every year due to these diseases and 60,000 deaths due to disasters, he added.

He said Karnataka has a system of reporting epidemics from rural area to the state and centre through internet besides the Department of Health also has a control room facility for emergencies.

M S Ramiah Medical College observed World Health Day with an awareness campaign on the theme ‘Protecting Health from Climate Change’. The Chief Executive of Gokula Education Foundation, B R Prabhakara said that small steps can go a long way in making a change such as using compact fluorescent lamps instead of incandescent lamps, minimising and recycling plastic etc.