The Unbreakable Link: Environmental Sustainability and Human Health
07/27/2010
PHI policy adviser Jade Sasser calls for increased public health leadership in climate change
How often do we think about the connection between our health and the health of the planet? A healthy earth, in balance with a stable climate, is a basic requirement for the thriving of human life- and disruptions to this system have direct implications on global health. The World Health Organization has stated that "climate change affects the fundamental requirements for health - clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food, and secure shelter." In fact, in 2008, the WHO selected climate change as the theme of World Health Day, in recognition of the growing threat climate change poses to global public health security.
In 2009, the Lancet Commission produced a report describing climate change as "the biggest global health threat of the 21st century." The Commission described the climate change threat to public health as a matter of "clear and present danger" affecting billions of people across the globe - not just in a distant future, but rather in "our lifetimes and those of our children."
Over the past 150 years, the earth has shown a fairly steady warming trend due to the heat trapped in our atmosphere by greenhouse gases. These gases are driven in large part by the burning of fossil fuels, changes in land use such as removing forest cover, and changes in global food production. To date, our planet has warmed by approximately 0.7 degrees Celsius, and if we continue on our current path with no significant policy changes, the earth will have warmed a total of 4°C by the year 2100. To put this into perspective, just a one degree increase from current temperatures would eliminate fresh water from a third of the world's land surface by 2100.
These climate and environmental changes threaten human health in both direct and indirect ways. One major example of this threat is the increase in heat wave-related deaths around the world. For example, the European heat wave of 2003 resulted in the deaths of approximately 300 people in Germany, 1,500 people in the Netherlands, and nearly 15,000 people in France, mostly among elderly and socially vulnerable populations. In the future, climate change will contribute to even more death, disease and injury resulting from floods, storms, heat waves, fires, and drought; it will also likely increase the global incidence of malnutrition, diarrheal diseases, malaria, cholera, and cardio-respiratory complications due to ground level ozone or smog. Scientists also predict indirect impacts on global mental health, as well as population displacement and civil conflict.
How are the effects of climate change on human health expected to increase in the future? Take the case of infectious diseases: researchers have projected that by the year 2080, between 260 and 320 million more people will be affected by malaria, and millions will also be at new risk of contracting dengue fever. Water and food security are also under serious, long term threat from climate change. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 1.1 billion people currently do not have access to improved water supply sources and 2.4 billion have no access to improved sanitation. At the same time, more than one-sixth of the world's population depends on glacial melt for its water supply. Melting glaciers threaten the availability of future freshwater resources, intensifying and expanding the scope of droughts. Droughts have already been expanding in scope over the last 40 years, and will have significant future implications for food security, malnutrition, and livelihoods for rural subsistence farmers.
Clearly, climate change is a major public health issue with serious, long term implications. The link between a healthy natural environment and healthy human populations is fundamental and unbreakable. Challenges presented by climate change cross geographic and sectoral boundaries, thus calling for an integrated, multi-sectoral response emphasizing innovative, collaborative partnerships. The Public Health Institute is seizing this opportunity to address existing gaps in knowledge and preparedness, foster innovative leadership capacity, develop new alliances across sectors, and spark swift change within the public health system and beyond. A central component of this work will be a virtual hub designed to bring together a diverse group of actors from the public health and environment sectors to share and access research and policy documents on public health and climate change, as well as engage in ongoing dialogue to advance innovative research and implementation strategies. This robust repository of tools and resources will provide an accessible, interactive means for cross-sectoral actors to identify and share best practice strategies for both climate change mitigation and adaptation.
The threat posed by climate change is a public health leadership imperative for the 21st century. The time is at hand for the public health community to respond to this challenge for the long term sustainability of our global community.
Jade S. Sasser is the policy adviser at the Public Health Institute's Center for Public Health & Climate Change.
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