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Climate Change and Human Health
Food Security
Biodiversity and Human Health
Emerging Pathogens
Water and Sanitation
Atmosphere, Air Quality, and Temperature Extremes
Elders and Children
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Food Security
Adapting to the impacts of climate change on food security among Inuit in the Western Canadian Arctic
S.D. Wesche, H.M. Chan. EcoHealth (2010) 7(3):361-373. This study examined critical impacts of climate change on Inuit diet and nutritional health in four Inuit communities in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Western Arctic, Canada. The vulnerability of each community to changing food security is differentially influenced by a range of factors, including current harvesting trends, levels of reliance on individual species, opportunities for access to other traditional food species, and exposure to climate change hazards.Alaska Natives assessing the health of their environment
D. Garza. International Journal of Circumpolar Health (2001) 60(4):479-486. The changes in Alaska's ecosystems caused by pollution, contaminants and global climate change are negatively impacting Alaska Natives and rural residents who rely on natural resources for food, culture and community identity.Alaskan meltdown: On the frontlines of climate change
B. Sherwonit. National Parks (2004) 78(3):24-29. Spread across 32 ecoregions, Alaska's 54 million acres of national parklands are being affected by global warming in many ways, some of them obvious, others subtle. As wild landscapes change, plant communities, wildlife populations, and humans dependent on park resources must adapt or lose their niche in the ecosystem.Anatomy of a closing window: Vulnerability to changing seasonality in Interior Alaska
S.M. McNeeley, M.D. Shulski. Global Environmental Change (2011) 21(2):464-473. The well-being of rural Native communities is still highly dependent on access and ability to harvest wild foods such as salmon and moose, among many others. Over the past decade, communities in the Koyukuk–Middle Yukon (KMY) region of Interior Alaska report an inability to satisfy their needs for harvesting moose before the hunting season closes, citing warmer falls, changing precipitation and water levels, and the regulatory framework as primary causes.Answers from the ice edge: The consequences of climate change on life in the Bering and Chukchi seas
Report prepared by the Arctic Network in collaboration with Greenpeace Alaska, June 1998. Climate change is a grave threat to northern ecosystems and thus to the subsistence way of life that is the heart of Yup'ik and Inupiat cultures. This report is about changes Alaska Native peoples of the northern Bering and Chukchi seas observe in their surroundings. (PDF 1.26 MB)Arctic Net - Food Security, Ice, Climate and Community Health: Climate change impacts on traditional food security in Canadian Inuit communities
Phase II of a study of the effects of climate change on the traditional food supplies of Canadian Inuits and the impacts on the health of the population.Arctic fever
B. Barcott, OnEarth, February 23, 2011. In the far north of Alaska, the fragile food web that supports polar bears and humans alike may be starting to unravel.Arctic sea ice controls the release of mercury
ScienceDaily, January 20, 2011. By blocking sunlight, sea ice could influence the breakdown and transfer into the atmosphere of toxic forms of mercury present in the surface waters of the Arctic Ocean. A recent study suggests that climate plays a key role in the mercury cycle and that the release of mercury into the atmosphere could be accentuated by the melting of Arctic sea ice.Arctic sentinels
H. Hoag. PLoS Biology (2008) 6(10):doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060259. Global mercury emissions have stabilized over the past decade, yet levels in Arctic marine mammals have risen by an order of magnitude. Some researchers think that climate change may be behind the recent rise.Assessing the impacts of climate change on food security in the Canadian Arctic
Report prepared by GRID-Arendal for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, March 2009. Food security, like climate change, is a multi-faceted issue. Bringing the two together to determine how climate change may impact food security is complex. (PDF 924 KB)Assessment of potential transport of pollutants into the Barents Sea via sea ice—an observational approach
R. Korsnes et al. Marine Pollution Bulletin (2002) 44(9):861-869. A significant part of the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has its origin in the Kara Sea and melts in the Greenland and Barents seas. Consequently there may be a particular risk of pollutants in the Kara Sea entering the food webs of the Greenland and Barents seas.Biodiversity: Frozen futures
M. Hopkin, Nature News, March 26, 2008. Conserving crop biodiversity is an urgent undertaking. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that 25-30% of plant species will be extinct or endangered in the next century. The 'Doomsday vault' buried in the Arctic ice will provide a backup for the world's seeds, but more needs to be done to safeguard food diversity.Climate change and the arctic diet
E. Engelhaupt. Environmental Health Perspectives (2009) 117(7):A292. Researchers in Canada now report the first evidence that changes in the timing of the annual sea ice breakup have contributed to a dietary shift for polar bears from western Hudson Bay in the Canadian sub-Arctic. This shift may be accelerating the bears' bioaccumulation of some classes of persistent contaminants, and people who consume these animals as part of a traditional subsistence diet could face greater exposure to contaminants that are passed up the food chain.Climate change and contaminants: New challenges for Alaska
Lecture #17 in U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Climate Change Lecture Series, presented March 31, 2011, by Philip Johnson, Alaska Region Environmental Contaminants Coordinator, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.Climate change and environmental impacts on maternal and newborn health with focus on Arctic populations
C. Rylander et al. Global Health Action (2011) 4:DOI: 10.3402/gha.v4i0.8452. Air pollution and food security are crucial issues for the pregnant population in a changing climate, especially indoor climate and food security in Arctic areas.Climate change and food security
PBS NewsHour, December 9, 2009. Climate change impacts on civilization can already be seen in droughts and food shortages in some of the world's poorest and most vulnerable areas. Two food security experts explain how climate change and food security connect, and what needs to be done to prepare for climate changes.Climate change and food insecurity among females in an Inuit community
Poster and abstract (2010) by M. Beaumier, M-P Lardeau, and J. Ford of McGill University.Climate change and health: A Native American perspective
B. Weinhold. Environmental Health Perspectives (2010) 118(2):A64-A65. There is ample evidence that the raw drive for survival—the ultimate environmental health perspective—is a common thread that often compels people to change their behavior. That is the case today for some Native Americans who are feeling the effects of dislocation and food shortages they attribute to climate change.Climate change effects on traditional food cellars in Barrow, Alaska
Center for Climate and Health Bulletin No. 4, 2010. This paper reports on a special health concern identified during surveys performed in November of 2009 and January 2010: the thawing of traditional, underground food storage cellars. Thawing permafrost is reducing the quality and quantity of food resources for some families, and resulting in cellars that have the potential to collapse and cause injury. (PDF 510 KB)Climate change effects on traditional Inupiat food cellars
Center for Climate and Health Bulletin No. 1, 2009. Thawing of traditional food storage cellars due to warming soil temperature is reducing the quality and quantity of food available to residents of Point Hope. Climate change is a likely cause, and adaptive strategies are necessary to restore food security for Point Hope and other communities that depend on traditional storage cellars. (PDF 2.4 MB)Climate change puts health of Arctic villagers on thin ice
Indian Country Today Media Network, March 7, 2011. Climate change hits Arctic villages first, posing new threats for water sanitation, food sourcing and preservation, and physical injury.Climate change 'remobilizes' long-buried pollutants as Arctic ice melts
L. Morello, New York Times, July 25, 2011. Warming in the Arctic is causing the release of toxic chemicals long trapped in the region's snow, ice, ocean, and soil, according to a new study.Conceptualizing food security for Aboriginal people in Canada
E.M. Power, PhD. Canadian Journal of Public Health (2008) 99(2):95-97. Food insecurity is an urgent public health issue for Aboriginal people in Canada because of high rates of poverty; the effects of global climate change and environmental pollution on traditional food systems; and high rates of diet-related diseases.The conditions of sustainable food security: An integrated conceptual framework
G. Duhaime, A. Godmaire. Pimatisiwin: A Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous Community Health (2003) 1(2):87-127. This is an abridged version of the first chapter of Sustainable Food Security in the Arctic: State of Knowledge, Gérard Duhaime, ed., University of Alberta, CCI Press, 2002.The disappearing world of the last of the Arctic hunters
The Observer, guardian.co.uk, October 3, 2010. In the first of a series of dispatches, Stephen Pax Leonard reports on the unique culture of the Inughuit as the sea ice that has supported their ancient way of life melts beneath them.Economic strategies, community, and food networks in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada
P. Collings. Arctic (2011) 64(2):207-219. This paper examines the social networks of country food sharing in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada, in light of our current understanding of the relationship between climate change and Arctic peoples.Effects of climate change and UV radiation on fisheries for Arctic freshwater and anadromous species
J.D. Reist et al. Ambio (2006) 35(7):402-410. Fisheries for arctic freshwater and diadromous fish species contribute significantly to northern economies. Climate change, and to a lesser extent increased ultraviolet radiation, effects in freshwaters will have profound effects on fisheries from three perspectives: quantity of fish available, quality of fish available, and success of the fishers.Environmental change and local foodways in the Faroe Islands, a North Atlantic artisanal whaling society
R. Fielding. Proceedings of the Fifth Northern Research Forum (2008). In the short term, the direct effects of global warming upon artisanal whaling in the Faroe Islands may be negligible. However, other environmental changes now underway, some of which share causal elements with global warming, show signs of having immediate and possibly terminal effects on this traditional cultural practice. These same environmental changes are likely to have similar effects on other artisanal and aboriginal whaling activities throughout the circumpolar North.Evaluating disease trends in marine ecosystems
PLoS Biology (2004) 2(4):doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0020119. With recent studies suggesting that disease rates throughout the food chain have increased over the past 30 years—and are expected to increase even more, thanks to global climate change—prospects for protecting marine ecosystems depend on understanding the causes and nature of these disease outbreaks.Facing the limit of resilience: Perceptions of climate change among reindeer herding Sami in Sweden
M. Furberg et al. Global Health Action (2011):4:DOI: 10.3402/gha.v4i0.8417. Swedish reindeer-herding Sami perceive climate change as yet another stressor in their daily struggle. They have experienced severe and more rapidly shifting, unstable weather with associated changes in vegetation and alterations in the freeze-thaw cycle, all of which affect reindeer herding.Feeding the family during times of stress: Experience and determinants of food insecurity in an Inuit community
J.D. Ford, M. Beaumier. Geographical Journal (2010) 177(1):44-61. This paper uses a mixed methods approach to characterize the experience of food insecurity among Inuit community members in Igloolik, Nunavut, and examine the conditions and processes that constrain access, availability, and quality of food.Food and water security in a changing arctic climate
D.M. White et al. Environmental Research Letters (2007) 2(4):1-4. Lakes, rivers, and wetlands on the arctic landscape are normally not connected with groundwater in the same way that they are in temperate regions.Food, culture, and human health in Alaska: An integrative health approach to food security
P.A. Loring, S.C. Gerlach. Environmental Science & Policy (2009) 12(4):466-478. Multiple climatic and socioeconomic drivers have come in recent years to interfere with the ability of Alaska's 'bush' communities to achieve food security with locally available food resources.Food insecurity among Inuit women exacerbated by socioeconomic stresses and climate change
M.C. Beaumier, J.D. Ford. Canadian Journal of Public Health (2010) 101(3):196-201. Inuit women's food insecurity in Igloolik is the outcome of multiple determinants operating at different spatial-temporal scales. Climate change and external socioeconomic stresses are exacerbating difficulties in obtaining sufficient food.Food insecurity among Inuit women in Igloolik, Nunavut: The role of climate change and multiple stressors
M. Beaumier et al. Abstract from the State of the Arctic 2010 conference. Food systems are negatively affected by economic, social, and cultural transformations and by climate change. Food insecurity can have serious implications for women's physical and mental health and social well-being, resulting in increased susceptibility to infection and chronic health afflictions.Food security and marine capture fisheries: Characteristics, trends, drivers and future perspectives
S.M. Garcia, A.A. Rosenberg. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (2010) 365(1554):2869-2880. Looking towards 2050, the question is how fisheries governance, and the national and international policy and legal frameworks within which it is nested, will ensure a sustainable harvest, maintain biodiversity and ecosystem functions, and adapt to climate change.Food security in Igloolik, Nunavut: An exploratory study
J.D. Ford, L. Berrang-Ford. Polar Record (2009) 45(03):225-236. This paper reports on an exploratory analysis examining the prevalence of food (in)security in the Inuit community of Igloolik, Nunavut, identifying high-risk groups, and characterizing conditions facilitating and constraining food security.Food security of northern Indigenous peoples in a time of uncertainty
C.D.J. Paci. Proceedings of the Third Northern Research Forum (2004). This special position paper for the Northern Research Forum raises issues related to the security of traditional/country food—that is, the continued and predictable availability and access to food derived from northern environments through Indigenous cultural practices.Foodborne diseases and nutrition
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010. The U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) reported a likely increase in the spread of several foodborne pathogens due to climate change, depending on the pathogens' survival, persistence, habitat range, and transmission in a changing environment.General effects of climate change on Arctic fishes and fish populations
J.D. Reist et al. Ambio (2006) 35(7):370-380. Projected shifts in climate forcing variables such as temperature and precipitation are of great relevance to arctic freshwater ecosystems and biota. These will result in many direct and indirect effects upon the ecosystems and fish present therein.Global climate change and potential effects on Pacific salmonids in freshwater ecosystems of southeast Alaska
M.D. Bryant. Climatic Change (2009) 95:169-193. Rapid changes in climatic conditions may not extirpate anadromous salmonids in the region, but they will impose greater stress on many stocks that are adapted to present climatic conditions. Survival of sustainable populations will depend on the existing genetic diversity within and among stocks, conservative harvest management, and habitat conservation.Global declines of caribou and reindeer
L.S. Vors, M.S. Boyce. Global Change Biology (2009) 15(11):2626-2633. Caribou and reindeer herds are declining across their circumpolar range, coincident with increasing arctic temperatures and precipitation, and anthropogenic landscape change.Global warming: Effects on sea-food security
D. Pauly, W.W.L. Cheung. Sea Around Us Newsletter (2009) 55:1-5. This article discusses steps the authors used to produce a number of papers on the impact of global warming on marine biodiversity and fisheries and to lay a foundation for future contributions.Global warming impacts on lake trout in Arctic lakes
M.E. McDonald et al. Limnology and Oceanography (1996) 41(5):1102-1108. If recent changes in Arctic Alaska's Toolik Lake foreshadow a long-term trend, the authors suggest that young-of-year (YOY) lake trout will not survive their first winter. Such changes, coupled with other current anthropogenic impacts in the Arctic, may disrupt lake trout control of the trophic structure in Arctic lakes.Herbivore populations will go down as temperatures go up
Science Daily, October 4, 2011. As climate change causes temperatures to rise, the number of herbivores will decrease, affecting the human food supply, according to new research from the University of Toronto.How is global climate change affecting Alaska's marine ecosystems and resources?
Slide presentation by the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, 2008. Alaska's fisheries, which are commercially important (providing half of the US domestic catch), and traditional subsistence ways of life will be changing in complex and sometimes uncertain ways as the climate changes. (PDF 4.24 MB)How landscape dynamics link individual- to population-level movement patterns: A multispecies comparison of ungulate relocation data
T. Mueller et al. Global Ecology and Biogeography (2011) DOI: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00638.x. The aim of this study was to demonstrate how the interrelations of individual movements form large-scale population-level movement patterns and how these patterns are associated with the underlying landscape dynamics by comparing ungulate movements across species. Study locations were Arctic tundra in Alaska and Canada, temperate forests in Massachusetts, Patagonian Steppes in Argentina, and Eastern Steppes in Mongolia.Hunting, herding, fishing, and gathering: Indigenous peoples and renewable resource use in the Arctic
Chapter 12 (pages 649-690) of ACIA Scientific Report, Cambridge University Press, 2005. Climatic variability and weather affect the abundance and availability of animals and thus the abilities and opportunities to harvest and process animals for food, clothing, and other purposes. Arctic communities experience forces that threaten to restrict harvesting activities and sever these relationships. (PDF 666 KB)Icing events trigger range displacement in a high-arctic ungulate
A. Stien et al. Ecology (2010)91(3):915-920. Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus plathyrynchus) have small home ranges and may therefore be vulnerable to local "locked pasture" events (ice layers limit access to plant forage) due to ground-ice formation. When pastures are "locked," Svalbard reindeer are faced with the decision of staying and live off a diminishing fat store, or trying to escape beyond the unknown spatial borders of the ice.Impacts of climate change on the seasonal distribution of migratory caribou
S. Sharma et al. Global Change Biology (2009) 15:2549-2562. Arctic ecosystems are especially vulnerable to global climate change as temperature and precipitation regimes are altered. An ecologically and socially highly important northern terrestrial species that may be impacted by climate change is the caribou, Rangifer tarandus.Importance of traditional foods for the food security of two First Nations communities in the Yukon, Canada
R.C. Schuster et al. International Journal of Circumpolar Health (2011) 70(3):286-300. This study seeks to evaluate food consumption patterns in the context of food security in the Yukon First Nations communities of Teslin and Old Crow. The quantity of traditional foods consumed in 2007-2008 is described and the frequency compared to data from 1991-1992. The study explores aspects of food security including access to, and availability of, traditional foods.Indicators of ocean health and human health: Developing a research and monitoring framework
A. Knap et al. Environmental Health Perspectives (2002) 110(9):839-845. The authors review the current state of indicators to link changes in marine organisms with eventual effects to human health, identify research opportunities in the use of indicators of ocean and human health, and discuss how to establish collaborations between national and international governmental and private sector groups.Influences of large-scale climatic variability on reindeer population dynamics: Implications for reindeer husbandry in Norway
R.B. Weladji, Ø. Holand. Climate Research (2006) 32:119-127. The authors discuss predicted patterns of global climatic change in Norway and assess potential consequences for reindeer husbandry. They argue that, although it is clearly shown that local and global climate affect reindeer directly (e.g., increased energetic costs of moving through deep snow and in accessing forage through snow) and indirectly (e.g., effect on forage plant biomass and quality, level of insect harassment and associated parasitism), it is difficult to predict a general pattern of how future climate change will influence this species.Interactions between climate change and contaminants
D. Schiedek. Marine Pollution Bulletin (2007) 54(12):1845-1856. This paper is intended to increase awareness among scientists, coastal zone managers and decision makers that climate change will affect contaminant exposure and toxic effects and that both forms of stress will impact aquatic ecosystems and biota.Inuit vulnerability and adaptive capacity to climate change in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada
T. Pearce et al. Polar Record (2010) 46(02):157-177. Climate change is already being experienced in the Arctic with implications for ecosystems and the communities that depend on them. This paper argues that an assessment of community vulnerability to climate change requires knowledge of past experience with climate conditions, responses to climatic variations, future climate change projections, and non-climate factors that influence people's susceptibility and adaptive capacity.Local knowledge, subsistence harvests, and social-ecological complexity in James Bay
C. Peloquin, F. Berkes. Human Ecology (2009) 37(5):533-545. This paper examines how indigenous Cree hunters in James Bay, subarctic Canada, understand and deal with ecological complexity and dynamics, and how their understanding of uncertainty and variability shape subsistence activities.Local observations of climate change and impacts on traditional food security in two northern Aboriginal communities
M. Guyot et al. International Journal of Circumpolar Health (2006) 65(5):403-415. The primary objective of this study was to record participant observations of changes in the local environment, harvesting situations, and traditional food species and to explore what impact these may have on traditional food.Mapping land cover change in a reindeer herding area of the Russian Arctic using Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery and indigenous knowledge
W.G. Rees et al. Remote Sensing of Environment (2003) 85(4):441-452. Traditionally, the tundra and the northern fringes of the boreal forest of northern Europe have been occupied by indigenous peoples whose main economic activity is reindeer herding. Groups of herders accompany their animals as they follow the annual changes in vegetation. As well as climate change, the ecology has been substantially affected by social changes that have had a marked effect on the relationship between reindeer, herder, and pasture.Marie-Pierre Lardeau: Vulnerability of Inuit communities in a changing Arctic
SciencePoles interview, July 29, 2010. Marie-Pierre Lardeau of McGill University discusses food security issues Inuit in many parts of Canada are facing, as well as some of the projects she and her colleagues are working on to document the current situation.Marine mercury breakdown
J.D. Blum. Nature Geoscience (2011) 4(3):139-140. The neurotoxin methylmercury accumulates in marine biota and their predators. An analysis of seabird egg shells suggests that sea-ice cover reduces the breakdown of this highly toxic compound in sea water.Melting Arctic ice releasing banned toxins, warn scientists
D. Carrington, guardian.co.uk, July 24, 2011. The warming of the Arctic is releasing a new wave of banned toxic chemicals that had been trapped in the ice and cold water, scientists have discovered.The melting ice cellar
P.L. Cochran, A.L. Geiler. American Journal of Public Health (2002) 92(9):1404-1409. As far back as the 1970s, Alaska Native communities reported changes we now know to be associated with global warming, such as changing weather patterns, thinning ice, diseased and deformed wildlife, and changes in the look and taste of such subsistence foods as fish and meat.Melting tundra creating vast river of waste into Arctic Ocean
ScienceDaily, January 12, 2010. The increase in temperature in the Arctic has already caused the sea-ice there to melt. According to research conducted by the University of Gothenburg, if the Arctic tundra also melts, vast amounts of organic material will be carried by the rivers straight into the Arctic Ocean, resulting in additional emissions of carbon dioxide.Mercury converted to its most toxic form in ocean waters
Science Daily, April 27, 2011. Conversion of inorganic mercury to monomethylmercury accounts for approximately 50 per cent of this neurotoxin present in polar marine waters and could account for a significant amount of the mercury found in Arctic marine organisms.Mercury, food webs, and marine mammals: Implications of diet and climate change for human health
S. Booth, D. Zeller. Environmental Health Perspectives (2005) 113(5):521-526. Under present conditions and climate change scenarios, methyl mercury has increased in the ecosystem, translating into increased human exposure over time. High and harmful levels of methyl mercury in the diet of Faroe Islanders are driven by whale meat consumption, and the increasing impact of climate change is likely to exacerbate this situation.Methylmercury photodegradation influenced by sea-ice cover in Arctic marine ecosystems
D. Point et al. Nature Geoscience (2011) 4(3):188-194. Atmospheric deposition of mercury to remote areas has increased threefold since pre-industrial times. Mercury deposition is particularly pronounced in the Arctic. Following deposition to surface oceans and sea ice, mercury can be converted into methylmercury, a biologically accessible form of the toxin, which biomagnifies along the marine food chain. The authors conclude that sea-ice cover impedes the photochemical breakdown of methylmercury in surface waters, and suggest that further loss of Arctic sea ice this century will accelerate sunlight-induced breakdown of methylmercury in northern surface waters.New satellite-derived sea ice motion tracks Arctic contamination
W.J. Emery et al. Marine Pollution Bulletin (1997) 35(7-12):345-352. Sea ice has been reported to contain contaminants from atmospheric and nearshore sediment resuspension processes. In this study, successive passive microwave images from the 85.5 GHz channels on the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) were merged with drifting buoy trajectories from the International Arctic Buoy Program to compute Arctic sea ice motion in the Russian Arctic between 1988 and 1994.Nisga'a women's healthy foods in the alpine permafrost and subalpine wetland
N. Mackin, session abstract from the 34th annual meeting of the Society for Ethnobiology, May 4, 2011. Northern Indigenous peoples worry that nutritious foods are becoming less available in their communities during these times of accelerated climate, landscape, and social change. Elders express worry about the rapidly melting glaciers and the loss of knowledge about, and access to, traditional foods that were an important part of remaining healthy.Observations of environmental changes and potential dietary impacts in two communities in Nunavut, Canada
T.L. Nancarrow, H.M. Chan. Rural and Remote Health (2010) 10:1370. The objective of this study was to report on observed climate changes and how they affect the country food harvest in two communities in the Canadian Arctic. The nutritional implications of these changes are discussed and also how the communities need to plan for adaptations.On the potential for climate change impacts on marine anthropogenic radioactivity in the Arctic regions
M. Karcher et al. Marine Pollution Bulletin (2010) 60(8):1151-1159. Radioactive contaminants and the processes that govern their transport and fate may be particularly susceptible to the effects of a changing Arctic climate. This paper explores the potential changes in the physical system of the Arctic climate system as they are deducible from present day knowledge and model projections.Perception of contaminants, participation in hunting and fishing activities, and potential impacts of climate change
C. Furgal, L. Rochette. Gouvernement du Québec (2007). Hunting, fishing, and collection of resources from the land and sea are of central importance to the health of Inuit in Nunavik. Confidence in these resources and Inuit access to them have been threatened by reports of environmental contaminants in wildlife, social and economic trends, and, more recently, reports of climate change and variability and their influences on wildlife resource accessibility.Persistent organic pollutants in large concentrations in Arctic areas: Fires spread environmental toxins over the Arctic
ScienceDaily, June 1, 2010. Forest fires and straw and stubble burning in North America and Eastern Europe are leading to record-high concentrations of the environmental toxin PCB over Svalbard. As a result of climate change, airborne pollution is thus becoming an increasing problem in the Arctic.The potential impact of climate on human exposure to contaminants in the Arctic
L.D. Kraemer. International Journal of Circumpolar Health (2005) 64(5):498-508. Global contaminant pathways include the atmosphere, ocean currents, and river outflow, all of which are affected by climate.The prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in polar bears and their marine mammal prey: Evidence for a marine transmission pathway?
S.K. Jensen et al. Polar Biology (2009) 33(5):599-606. Little is known about the prevalence of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii in the arctic marine food chain of Svalbard, Norway. In this study, plasma samples were analyzed for T. gondii antibodies using a direct agglutination test. A high recent prevalence in polar bears, ringed seals, and bearded seals could be caused by an increase in the number or survivorship of oocysts being transported via the North Atlantic Current to Svalbard from southern latitudes.Reindeer management during the colonization of Sami lands: A long-term perspective of vulnerability and adaptation strategies
I. Brännlund, P. Axelsson. Global Environmental Change (2011). Reindeer husbandry's strong connection to the land, together with the ongoing climate-change debate, has generated growing interest in its socio-ecological resilience and vulnerability. Here, using historical sources, the authors analyze the vulnerability of reindeer husbandry (and the Sami societies that depended on it) in Sweden during the 19th century, demonstrating that, although reindeer management was a much more diverse enterprise at that time than it is now, the major adaptation strategy and constraining forces were similar to those of today.Research planning in the face of change: The human role in reindeer/caribou systems
G. Kofinas et al. Polar Research (2000) 19(1):3-21. In February 1999, eighty scientists, reindeer/caribou users, and resource managers gathered in Rovaniemi, Finland, for an interdisciplinary workshop to develop a circumpolar research plan that addressed the sustainability of human/reindeer/caribou systems.Resilient communities: Food security, communication and health in a changing North
This webpage from North by 2020, an International Polar Year initiative, looks at how climatic shifts, increasing globalization, and sociopolitical changes affect, and are affected by, Northern peoples and interests.Resonance strategies of Sámi reindeer herders in northernmost Finland during climatically extreme years
T. Vuojala-Magga et al. Arctic (2011) 64(2):227-241. This study focuses on the resonance strategies of Sámi reindeer herders in four reindeer-herding cooperatives in northernmost Finland in climatically extreme years, specifically those occurring during the period 1970-2007. "Resonance" is an instinctive and indwelling reaction of a herder to a specific change (in contrast to coping, which is a more general response). The study is based on interviews with herders, field experiences, reindeer population statistics, and weather data.Revolatilization of persistent organic pollutants in the Arctic induced by climate change
J. Ma et al. Nature Climate Change (2011) 1:255-260. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are organic compounds produced by human activities that are resistant to environmental degradation. The concentrations of many POPs have decreased in Arctic air over the past few decades owing to restrictions on their production and use. As the climate warms, however, POPs deposited in sinks such as water and ice are expected to revolatilize into the atmosphere.Satellite snow maps help reindeer herders adapt to a changing Arctic
ESA News, April 1, 2009. Arctic reindeer herders are facing the challenges of adapting to climate change as a warmer Arctic climate makes it harder for herds to find food and navigate. To help them adapt, the ESA-backed Polar View initiative is providing the herders with satellite-based snow maps.Sea ice and migration of the Dolphin and Union caribou herd in the Canadian Arctic: An uncertain future
K.G. Poole et al. Arctic (2010) 63(4):414-428. Caribou of the Dolphin and Union herd migrate across the sea ice between Victoria Island and the adjacent Canadian Arctic mainland twice each year, southward in fall-early winter and northward in late winter-spring. As a result of warmer temperatures, sea ice between Victoria Island and the mainland now forms 8-10 days later than it did in 1982, raising questions about the impact of delayed ice formation on the ecology of the herd.Social indicators for observing Arctic change
J. Kruse et al. Polar Geography (2011) 34(1-2):1-143. This special issue of Polar Geography contains articles on each of the four arenas of human activity likely to involve climate-human interactions: (1) subsistence hunting; (2) tourism; (3) resource development and marine transportation; and (4) commercial fishing. Articles include:
- Arctic Observing Network Social Indicators Project: Overview
- Developing an Arctic subsistence observation system
- Observing trends and assessing data for Arctic mining
- Social indicators for Arctic tourism: Observing trends and assessing data
- Arctic observing network social indicators and northern commercial fisheries
- Linking pan-Arctic human and physical data
- Next steps toward an Arctic human dimensions observing system
Travel routes, harvesting and climate change in Ulukhaktok, Canada
T.D. Pearce et al. Proceedings of the Fourth Northern Research Forum (2006). This paper presents research that integrates natural and social science data with the knowledge from community members to document the implications of climate change for travel routes used by community members in Ulukhaktok to access seasonal harvesting grounds, and how policy decisions can enhance capacity to adapt in the future. It outlines steps for engaging Arctic communities in climate change research and describes an approach to assessing vulnerability.Travelling and hunting in a changing Arctic: Assessing Inuit vulnerability to sea ice change in Igloolik, Nunavut
G.J. Laidler et al. Climatic Change (2009) 94:363-397 The observations of community members and instrumental records indicate changes in sea ice around the Inuit community of Igloolik, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.A troubling decline in the caribou herds of the Arctic
E. Struzik. Environment 360 (2010). Across the Far North, populations of caribou, an indispensable source of food and clothing for indigenous people, are in steep decline. Scientists point to rising temperatures and a resource-development boom as the prime culprits.Unravelling the mercury mystery: How does a warming climate boost toxic metals in Arctic foods?
CBC News, May 14, 2010. A network of scientists ranging from biologists to atmospheric scientists to glaciologists is working hard to track the path of mercury as it makes its way from industrial areas across the northern hemisphere into the Arctic food web.Unusual weather causing concerns for leaders
Wawatay News, April 29, 2010. Kashechewan's hunters are not bringing home enough geese to stock up for the coming summer months.Vulnerability of Fraser River sockeye salmon to climate change: A life cycle perspective using expert judgments
T. McDaniels. Journal of Environmental Management (2010) 91(12):2771-2780. Fraser River sockeye salmon have been the basis for a major commercial fishery shared by Canada and the United States, and an important cultural foundation for many aboriginal groups. This paper characterizes the vulnerability of Fraser River sockeye salmon to future climate change.A warming Earth could mean stronger toxins
R.A. Lovett, Nature News, November 9, 2010. Global warming may be making pesticide residues, heavy metals, and household chemicals more dangerous to fish, wildlife, and, ultimately, humans, scientists warn.Ways to help and ways to hinder: Governance for effective adaptation to an uncertain climate
P.A. Loring et al. Arctic (2011) 64(1):73-88. This paper compares two case studies in Alaska, one on commercial fishers of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands region and the other on moose hunters of Interior Alaska, to identify how governance arrangements and management strategies enhance or limit people's ability to respond effectively to changing climatic and environmental conditions.What price the caribou?
C. Tesar et al. Northern Perspectives (2007) 31(1). The theme of this issue of Northern Perspectives is the impact of declining caribou herds on the well-being of the aboriginal residents of northern Canada.When noise becomes the signal: Chemical contamination of aquatic ecosystems under a changing climate
F. Wang. Marine Pollution Bulletin (2010) 60(10):1633-1635. Evidence is now emerging that climate change alters storage, transformation, transport pathways, eco-dynamics, and bio-uptake of contaminants. Here, the authors propose a new paradigm that, during a rapidly changing climate, emission control of some contaminants may be followed by long delays, on the order of decades or longer, before ensuing reduction is seen in food-web contaminant levels.A world built on ice and whales
R. Black, BBC News, July 13, 2011. BBC environmental correspondent Richard Black reports on whaling traditions and conditions in Barrow, Alaska.Biodiversity and Human Health
Arctic biodiversity and Inuit health
C. Knotsch, J. Lamouche. National Aboriginal Health Organization, March 2010. This report summarizes the many changes Inuit have reported as impacting biodiversity, such as the appearance of insects formerly not seen, and at the same time examines how local knowledge is crucial to adapting to changes in biodiversity. Finally, it discusses the connection between biodiversity and Inuit health and why changes in Arctic biodiversity will mean changes to human life in the Arctic.Arctic biodiversity trends 2010: Selected indicators of change
Report by CAFF International Secretariat, Akureyri, Iceland, May 2010. In 2008, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) passed a resolution expressing "extreme concern" over the impacts of climate change on Arctic indigenous peoples, other communities, and biodiversity. It highlighted the potentially significant consequences of changes in the Arctic. Arctic Biodiversity Trends 2010: Selected Indicators of Change provides evidence that some of those anticipated impacts on Arctic biodiversity are already occurring. (PDF 18.57 MB)Biodiversity: Frozen futures
M. Hopkin, Nature News, March 26, 2008. Conserving crop biodiversity is an urgent undertaking. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that 25-30% of plant species will be extinct or endangered in the next century. The 'Doomsday vault' buried in the Arctic ice will provide a backup for the world's seeds, but more needs to be done to safeguard food diversity.Biodiversity and human health
F. Grifo, J. Rosenthal (eds.), Island Press, 1997. This book brings together leading thinkers on the global environment and biomedicine to explore the human health consequences of the loss of biological diversity. Based on a two-day conference sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution, the book opens a dialogue among experts from the fields of public health, biology, epidemiology, botany, ecology, demography, and pharmacology on this vital but often neglected concern.Biodiversity change and human health: From ecosystem services to spread of disease
O.E. Sala, L.A. Meyerson, C. Parmesan (eds.), SCOPE, 2009. Biodiversity loss may result in compromised ecosystem functions, which, in turn, may negatively influence human health, both directly and indirectly. In this book, the authors review four general human health functions of ecosystems, highlighting the urgent need for more detailed and comprehensive research on the human health consequences of biodiversity loss.Biodiversity, climate change, and ecosystem services
H. Mooney. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (2009) 1(1):46-54. Stresses imposed by climate change in the coming years will require extraordinary adaptation. We need to track the changing status of ecosystems, deepen our understanding of the biological underpinnings for ecosystem service delivery, and develop new tools and techniques for maintaining and restoring resilient biological and social systems.Biodiversity loss threatens human well-being
S. Diaz et al. PLoS Biology (2006) 4(8):doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040277. The authors provide a synthesis of the most crucial messages emerging from the latest scientific literature and international assessments of the role of biodiversity in ecosystem services and human well-being.Climate change as a threat to biodiversity: An application of the DPSIR approach
I. Omann et al. Ecological Economics (2009) 69(1):24-31. Based on an analysis using the DPSIR framework, this paper discusses some of the important socioeconomic driving forces of climate change, with a focus on energy use and transportation. The paper also analyzes observed and potential changes of climate and the pressures they exert on biodiversity, the changes in biodiversity, the resulting impacts on ecosystem functions, and possible policy responses.Ecosystems and global climate change: A review of potential impacts on U.S. terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity
Report prepared for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, December 2000. This is the fifth in a series of Pew Center reports examining the potential impacts of climate change on the U.S. environment. It details the very real possibility that warming over this century will jeopardize the integrity of many of the terrestrial ecosystems on which we depend. (PDF 728 KB)Implications of climate change for northern Canada: Freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems
T.D. Prowse et al. Ambio (2009) 38(5):282-289. As the climate continues to change, there will be consequences for biodiversity shifts and for the ranges and distribution of many species with resulting effects on availability, accessibility, and quality of resources upon which human populations rely. This will have implications for the protection and management of wildlife, fish, and fisheries resources; protected areas; and forests.Indigenous peoples and traditional knowledge related to biological diversity and responses to climate change in the Arctic region
Brochure published by Ministry of the Environment of Finland, 2009. While the results of scientific studies on the impacts of climate change on Arctic species and ecosystems are useful, they present only one snapshot of a vast and complex system. Indigenous and traditional knowledge from the Arctic region reveals another view of life and lifestyles under threat. (PDF 1.36 MB)Invasive species, environmental change and management, and health
P. Pyšek, D.M. Richardson. Annual Review of Environment and Resources (2010) 35:25-55. This review deals with invasive species as a component of global change and focuses on issues dealing with introduced species that increasingly demand management intervention.Sacred cows and sympathetic squirrels: The importance of biological diversity to human health
A. Dobson et al. PLoS Medicine (2006) 3(6):doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0030231. In a world where climate change may allow vector-transmitted diseases to spread from the tropics into the temperate zone, it may be sensible to conserve biological diversity for the purely selfish reasons of protecting human health.Too hot to heal?
D.R. Downton, Alive.com, January 2010. Traditional healing skills are on the wane because many of the plants on which they're based are now extinct or endangered. In the fragile ecosystems of cold climates, such as those in the Andes and the Himalayas and in the circumpolar north, the biggest stressor is warming.Emerging Pathogens
Adaptation of mammalian host-pathogen interactions in a changing arctic environment
K. Hueffer et al. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica (2011) 53:17. In high northern latitudes, the annual cycles of interacting pathogen and host biology are regulated in part by highly synchronized temperature and photoperiod changes during seasonal transitions (e.g., freezeup and breakup). With a warming climate, only one of these key biological cues will undergo drastic changes, while the other will remain fixed. This uncoupling can theoretically have drastic consequences on host-pathogen interactions.Animal migration and infectious disease risk
S. Altizer et al. Science (2011) 331(6015):296-302. Studies of pathogen dynamics in migratory species and how these will respond to global change are urgently needed to predict future disease risks for wildlife and humans alike.Arctic parasitology: Why should we care?
R. Davidson et al. Trends in Parasitology (2011) 27(6):239-245. The low ecological diversity that characterizes the Arctic imparts vulnerability. In addition, parasitic invasions and altered transmission of endemic parasites are evident and anticipated to continue under current climate changes, manifesting as pathogen range expansion, host switching, and/or disease emergence or reduction. However, Arctic ecosystems can provide useful models for understanding climate-induced shifts in host-parasite ecology in other regions.Changing planet, changing health: How the climate crisis threatens our health and what we can do about it
P.R. Epstein, D. Ferber, University of California Press, 2011, 368 pages. Written by a physician and world expert on climate and health and an award-winning science journalist, the book reveals the surprising links between global warming and cholera, malaria, lyme disease, asthma, and other health threats.Climate change and the geographic distribution of infectious diseases
J. Rosenthal. EcoHealth (2009) 6(4):489-495. Our ability to predict the effects of climate change on the spread of infectious diseases is in its infancy. Numerous, and in some cases conflicting, predictions have been developed, principally based on models of biological processes or mapping of current and historical disease statistics.Climate change and human health
P.R. Epstein, MD, MPH. New England Journal of Medicine (2005) 353(14):1433-1436. In the past three decades, widening social inequities and changes in biodiversity—which alter the balance among predators, competitors, and prey that help keep pests and pathogens in check—have apparently contributed to the resurgence of infectious diseases.Climate change and infectious disease
B.C. Fries, J. Mayer. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases (2009) doi:10.1155/2009/976403. This is an editorial introducing a special issue of Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases.Climate change and infectious disease: Stormy weather ahead?
P.R. Epstein. Epidemiology (2002) 13(4):373-375. Extreme weather events are becoming more intense and are likely to become more frequent as the world climate changes. For epidemiologists, one important aspect of these trends is their impact on infectious disease.Climate change and infectious diseases
Chapter 14 of The Social Ecology of Infectious Diseases, K.H. Mayer, H.F. Pizer (eds.), Academic Press, 2008.Climate change influences infectious diseases both in the Arctic and the tropics: Joining the dots
B. Evengård, R. Sauerborn. Global Health Action (2009) DOI: 10.3402/gha.v2i0.2106. Despite obvious differences in environmental and socio-economic contexts, there are commonalities between these areas, both in the mechanisms through which climate change influences disease transmission and in the adaptation responses health systems can and should mount.Climate change, its impact on human health in the Arctic and the public health response to threats of emerging infectious diseases
A.J. Parkinson, B. Evengård. Global Health Action (2009) DOI: 10.3402/gha.v2i0.2075. Resident indigenous populations of the Arctic are uniquely vulnerable to climate change because of their close relationship with, and dependence on, the land, sea, and natural resources for their well-being.Climate change, parasites and shifting boundaries
L. Polley et al. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica (2010) 52(Suppl 1):S1. The primary aim of this paper is to provide a framework for thinking about the critical potential connections between climate change, parasites, people, and wildlife in the circumpolar North, and between these host groups, climate change, parasites and domestic animals in other areas of the world.Climate change promotes the emergence of serious disease outbreaks of filarioid nematodes
S. Laaksonen et al. EcoHealth (2010) 7(1):7-13. Coincidental with decades of warming, and anomalies of high temperature and humidity in the sub-Arctic region of Fennoscandia, the mosquito-borne filarioid nematode Setaria tundra is now associated with emerging epidemic disease resulting in substantial morbidity and mortality for reindeer and moose. Authors describe a hostparasite system that involves reindeer, arthropods, and nematodes, which may contribute as a factor to ongoing declines documented for this ungulate species across northern ecosystems.Climate change puts health of Arctic villagers on thin ice
Indian Country Today Media Network, March 7, 2011. Climate change hits Arctic villages first, posing new threats for water sanitation, food sourcing and preservation, and physical injury.Climate change, vector-borne disease and interdisciplinary research: Social science perspectives on an environment and health controversy
B.W. Brisbois, S.H Ali. EcoHealth (2010) 7(4):425-438. The authors hope this article triggers a discussion on self-reflexive and politically aware environment and health research and policy, with recognition of global health inequity, its roots in international political economy, and the role that researchers play, or could play, in confronting these challenges.Climate variability, global change, immunity, and the dynamics of infectious diseases
A. Dobson. Ecology (2009) 90(4):920-927. This is a comment on an article from a previous issue of Ecology.Consequent effects of parasitism on population dynamics, food webs, and human health under climate change
H. Doi, N.I. Yurlova. Ambio (2011) 40(3):332-334. The effects of global warming on assemblages of hosts, parasites, and pathogens can be numerical, functional, or micro-evolutionary, and can involve cascading changes in ecosystems. Here, the authors summarize and discuss the importance of parasitism to host-parasite population dynamics, food-web structure, and human health under future climate change.Disease appearance and evolution against a background of climate change and reduced resources
S. Yacoub et al. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A (2011) 369(1942):1719-1729. Global health continues to face increasing challenges owing to a variety of reasons that include the almost constant changes in disease appearance and evolution. Most, but not all, of these changes affect low-income countries and are influenced by climate change.Disease emergence from global climate and land use change
J.A. Patz et al. Medical Clinics of North America (2008) 92(6):1473-1491. Climate change and land use change can affect multiple infectious diseases of humans, acting either independently or synergistically. Clinicians must develop stronger ties, not only to public health officials and scientists but also to earth and environmental scientists and policy makers.Ecology drives the worldwide distribution of human diseases
V. Guernier et al. PLoS Biology (2004) 2(6):doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0020141. The authors conclude that climatic factors are of primary importance in explaining the link between latitude and the spatial pattern of human pathogens.The ecology of climate change and infectious diseases
K.D. Lafferty. Ecology (2009) 90(4):888-900. Latitudinal, altitudinal, seasonal, and interannual associations between climate and disease along with historical and experimental evidence suggest that climate, along with many other factors, can affect infectious diseases in a nonlinear fashion.Effects of climate change on tularaemia disease activity in Sweden
P. Rydén et al. Global Health Action (2009) DOI: 10.3402/gha.v2i0.2063. Tularaemia is a vector-borne infectious disease. A large majority of cases transmitted to humans by bloodfeeding arthropods occur during the summer season and is linked to increased temperatures. Therefore, the effect of climate change is likely to have an effect on tularaemia transmission patterns in highly endemic areas of Sweden.Effects of environmental change on emerging parasitic diseases
J.A. Patz et al. International Journal for Parasitology (2000) 30(12-13):1395-1405. The combined effects of environmentally detrimental changes in local land use and alterations in global climate disrupt the natural ecosystem and can increase the risk of transmission of parasitic diseases to the human population.Frontiers in climate change–disease research
J.R. Rohr et al. Trends in Ecology & Evolution (2011) 26(6):270-277. The notion that climate change will generally increase human and wildlife diseases has garnered considerable public attention, but remains controversial and seems inconsistent with the expectation that climate change will also cause parasite extinctions. In this review, the authors highlight the frontiers in climate change–infectious disease research by reviewing knowledge gaps that make this controversy difficult to resolve.Global climate change and emerging infectious diseases
J.A. Patz et al. JAMA (1996) 275(3):217-223. Climatic factors influence the emergence and reemergence of infectious diseases, in addition to multiple human, biological, and ecological determinants. Analyzing the role of climate in the emergence of human infectious diseases will require interdisciplinary cooperation among physicians, climatologists, biologists, and social scientists.Global climate change and infectious diseases
E.K. Shuman, MD. New England Journal of Medicine (2010) 362(12):1061-1063. Climate change will have enormous implications for human health, especially for the burden of vectorborne and waterborne infectious diseases.Global warming and the emergence of ancient pathogens in Canada's Arctic regions
J.O. Oyugi et al. Medical Hypotheses (2007) 68(3):709. Canada has vast regions of Arctic territory, with approximately 2% of the country covered with glaciers and ice fields, and as such may have potential for the emergence of deadly ancient pathogens from release of microbes from melting arctic ice.Global wildlife being monitored for disease threats to humans: New system tracks emerging infections
D. Currie. The Nation's Health (2011) 41(3):1-10. Funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development's Emerging Pandemic Threats program were used to create HealthMap.org/predict as well as to support disease surveillance in more than 20 countries and local media surveillance.How will global climate change affect parasite-host assemblages?
D.R. Brooks, E.P. Hoberg. Trends in Parasitology (2007) 23(12):571-574. Global climate change produces ecological perturbations, which cause geographical and phenological shifts, and alteration in the dynamics of parasite transmission, increasing the potential for host switching.Immunology, climate change and vector-borne diseases
J.A. Patz, W.K. Reisen. Trends in Immunology (2001) 22(4):171-172. Global climate change might expand the distribution of vector-borne pathogens in both time and space, thereby exposing host populations to longer transmission seasons, and immunologically naive populations to newly introduced pathogens.The impact of climate change on the expansion of Ixodes persulcatus habitat and the incidence of tickborne encephalitis in the north of European Russia
N. Tokarevich et al. Global Health Action (2011) 4:DOI:10.3402/gha.v4i0.8448. This study analyzes tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) incidence in Arkhangelsk Oblast (AO) and throughout Russia, the results of Ixodid ticks collecting in a number of sites in AO, and TBE virus prevalence in those ticks, the data on tick bite incidence in AO, and meteorological data on AO mean annual air temperatures and precipitations.Increase in tick population means higher risk to public health
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health, December 13, 2010. The greatest risk to human health as a result of a warmer climate is likely to be an increase in vector-transmitted diseases. The sheep tick is likely to present the biggest challenge.Increasing insect reactions in Alaska: Is this related to changing climate?
J.G. Demain et al. Allergy and Asthma Proceedings (2009) 30(3):238-243. Authors conducted a retrospective review of three independent patient databases in Alaska to identify trends of patients seeking medical care for adverse reactions after insect-related events. Increases in insect reactions in Alaska have occurred after increases in annual and winter temperatures, and these findings may be causally related.Infectious disease: Inextricable linkages between human and ecosystem health
D.W. Macdonald, M.K. Laurenson. Biological Conservation (2006) 131(2):143-150. There was a time when the control of wildlife diseases was the domain of veterinarians while conservation was that of biologists. That false dichotomy has long since passed as infectious disease has become a central issue in biological conservation, which itself has become enmeshed in an interdisciplinary web that embraces the health of ecosystems and people.Infectious diseases, climate influences, and nonstationarity
B. Cazelles, S. Hales. PLoS Medicine (2006) 3(8):doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0030328. Complex dynamic relationships between humans, pathogens, and the environment lead to the emergence of new diseases and the re-emergence of old ones. Due to concern about the impact of increasing global climate variability and change, many recent studies have focused on relationships between infectious disease and climate.Integrated approaches and empirical models for investigation of parasitic diseases in northern wildlife
E.P. Hoberg et al. Emerging Infectious Diseases (2008) 14(1):10-17. Integrative approaches serve as cornerstones for detection, prediction, and potential mitigation of emerging infectious diseases in wildlife and persons in the North and elsewhere under a changing global climate.The International Polar Year, 2007-2008: An opportunity to focus on infectious diseases in Arctic regions
A.J. Parkinson. Emerging Infectious Diseases (2008) 14(1):1-3. The changing climate is affecting Arctic communities. The most vulnerable are those living a traditional subsistence lifestyle. The melting permafrost, flooding, and storm surges are progressively destroying sanitation and drinking water infrastructures of many Arctic communities. In addition, climate change may drive increased dissemination of zoonotic pathogens in water- and food-borne pathways.Is global warming harmful to health?
P.R. Epstein. Scientific American (2000) 283(2):50-57. Computer models predict that global warming will revise weather patterns and that the resulting droughts, heat waves, and floods will promote the emergence, resurgence, and spread of infectious diseases.The medical detective
A. Vowles. At Guelph (2007) 51(17). Veterinary epidemiologist Dr. Andria Jones is working with other researchers under a project funded by IPY 2007/08, hoping to learn how widespread zoonotic diseases are across Labrador, Nunavik, the Northwest Territories, and Yukon. She says that having a baseline will help in monitoring disease spread and will allow scientists to gauge the effects of climate change on dispersal patterns.Mild weather and rain increase the risk of Campylobacter in chickens
ScienceDaily, February 8, 2011. Campylobacter is frequently the cause of diarrhea in humans in Norway and chicken meat is thought to be one of the sources of infection. A new doctoral thesis shows that heavy rain and average temperatures over 6° centigrade during the breeding period increase the risk of broilers becoming infected by Campylobacter bacteria.Milder winters in northern Scandinavia may contribute to larger outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever virus
M. Evander, C. Ahlm. Global Health Action (2009) DOI: 10.3402/gha.v2i0.2020. The spread of zoonotic infectious diseases may increase due to climate factors such as temperature, humidity, and precipitation. This is also true for hantaviruses, which are globally spread haemorrhagic fever viruses carried by rodents.Morbillivirus and toxoplasma exposure and association with hematological parameters for southern Beaufort Sea polar bears: Potential response to infectious agents in a sentinel species
C.M. Kirk et al. EcoHealth (2010) 7(3):321-331. As food webs change and human activities respond to a milder Arctic, exposure of polar bears and other Arctic marine organisms to infectious agents may increase. Because of the polar bear's status as Arctic ecosystem sentinel, polar bear health could provide an index of changing pathogen occurrence throughout the Arctic.One Health Initiative
The One Health concept is a worldwide strategy for expanding interdisciplinary collaborations and communications in all aspects of health care for humans, animals, and the environment.Parasite zoonoses and climate change: Molecular tools for tracking shifting boundaries
L. Polley, R.C.A. Thompson. Trends in Parasitology (2009) 25(6):285-291. For human, domestic animal, and wildlife health, key effects of directional climate change include the risk of the altered occurrence of infectious diseases. Many parasite zoonoses have high potential for vulnerability to the new climate, in part because their free-living life-cycle stages and ectothermic hosts are directly exposed to climatic conditions. For these zoonoses, climate change can shift boundaries for ecosystem components and processes integral to parasite transmission and persistence.Potential influence of climate change on vector-borne and zoonotic diseases: A review and proposed research plan
J.N. Mills et al. Environmental Health Perspectives (2010) 118(11):1507-1514. Because of complex interactions of climate variables at the levels of the pathogen, vector, and host, the potential influence of climate change on vector-borne and zoonotic diseases (VBZDs) is poorly understood and difficult to predict. Climate effects on the nonvector-borne zoonotic diseases are especially obscure and have received scant treatment.The prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in polar bears and their marine mammal prey: Evidence for a marine transmission pathway?
S.K. Jensen et al. Polar Biology (2009) 33(5):599-606. Little is known about the prevalence of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii in the arctic marine food chain of Svalbard, Norway. In this study, plasma samples were analyzed for T. gondii antibodies using a direct agglutination test. A high recent prevalence in polar bears, ringed seals, and bearded seals could be caused by an increase in the number or survivorship of oocysts being transported via the North Atlantic Current to Svalbard from southern latitudes.Rising tide of illness: How global warming could increase the threat of waterborne diseases
Fact sheet published by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), 2010. Global warming is projected to increase the risk of more frequent and more widespread outbreaks of waterborne illnesses due to higher temperatures and more severe weather events.Spread of disease linked to warming climate
D. Fischer, The Daily Climate, July 27, 2010. CDC warns doctors to be on the alert after concluding a once-tropical disease is spreading in the Pacific Northwest.Thawing of permafrost may disturb historic cattle burial grounds in East Siberia
B.A. Revich, M.A. Podolnaya. Global Health Action (2011) 4:DOI:10.3402/gha.v4i0.8482. Frequent outbreaks of anthrax caused the death of 1.5 million deer in the Russian North between 1897 and 1925. At present, it is not known whether current warming of permafrost will lead to the release of viable anthrax organisms. Nevertheless, it would be prudent to undertake careful monitoring of permafrost conditions in all areas where an anthrax outbreak has occurred in the past.Tides of trouble: Increased threats to human health and ecosystems from harmful algal blooms
Fact sheet published by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), 2010. The proliferation of harmful algal blooms (HABs) is a matter of growing global environmental health concern. These dangerous blooms of tiny microalgae can produce potent toxins that can harm people, pets, and marine life, and contaminate aquatic food chains.Uncertainties associated with quantifying climate change impacts on human health: A case study for diarrhea
E.W. Kolstad, K.A Johansson. Environmental Health Perspectives (2011) 119(3):299-305. Climate change is expected to have large impacts on health at low latitudes where droughts and malnutrition, diarrhea, and malaria are projected to increase. The main objective of this study was to indicate a method to assess a range of plausible health impacts of climate change while handling uncertainties in an unambiguous manner. The authors illustrate this method by quantifying the impacts of projected regional warming on diarrhea in this century.Under the weather: Climate, ecosystems, and infectious disease
Report by Committee on Climate, Ecosystems, Infectious Diseases, and Human Health, Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, National Research Council, 2001. This book evaluates our current understanding of the linkages among climate, ecosystems, and infectious disease; it then outlines the research needed to improve our understanding of these linkages. The book also examines the potential for using climate forecasts and ecological observations to help predict infectious disease outbreaks, identifies the necessary components for an epidemic early warning system, and reviews lessons learned from the use of climate forecasts in other realms of human activity. Read a summary of the report from the CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.Water and Sanitation
Climate change and the Water Framework Directive: Cost effectiveness and policy design for water management in the Swedish Mälar region
I-M Gren. Climatic Change (2010) 100(3-4):463-484. This paper calculates the impacts of climatic change on cost effective nutrient management under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) for the eutrophic Mälar lake and Stockholm archipelago in southeastern Sweden.Climate change and water security with a focus on the Arctic
B. Evengard et al. Global Health Action (2011) 4:DOI: 10.3402/gha.v4i0.8449. In the Arctic, climate change is having an impact on water availability by melting glaciers, decreasing seasonal rates of precipitation, increasing evapotranspiration, and drying lakes and rivers existing in permafrost grounds. Water quality is also being impacted as manmade pollutants stored in the environment are released, lowland areas are flooded with salty ocean water during storms, turbidity from permafrost-driven thaw and erosion is increased, and the growth or emergence of natural pollutants is increased.Climate change puts health of Arctic villagers on thin ice
Indian Country Today Media Network, March 7, 2011. Climate change hits Arctic villages first, posing new threats for water sanitation, food sourcing and preservation, and physical injury.Drinking water and potential threats to human health in Nunavik: Adaptation strategies under climate change conditions
D. Martin et al. Arctic (2007) 60(2):195-202. The main goal of this study, which took place in 2003 and 2004, was to evaluate drinking habits that may place Nunavik residents at an increased risk of gastroenteric diseases in the context of climate change.Mark Smith on protecting people's water from climate change
EarthSky interview, April 5, 2010. EarthSky spoke with water expert Mark Smith, who heads the Water Programme for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).Perception of change in freshwater in remote resource-dependent Arctic communities
L. Alessa et al. Global Environmental Change (2008) 18(1):153-164. This paper provides empirical evidence to support existing anecdotal studies regarding the mechanisms by which human communities become vulnerable to rapid changes in freshwater resources on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska. Authors discuss the role of collective knowledge, through the transmission of knowledge from elders to subsequent generations, in aiding the development of a community's ability to note and respond to changes in critical natural resources.Potential impacts of a warming climate on water availability in snow-dominated regions
T.P. Barnett et al. Nature (2005) 438:303-309. In a warmer world, less winter precipitation falls as snow and the melting of winter snow occurs earlier in spring. Even without any changes in precipitation intensity, both of these effects lead to a shift in peak river runoff to winter and early spring, away from summer and autumn when demand is highest. Where storage capacities are not sufficient, much of the winter runoff will immediately be lost to the oceans.Rising tide of illness: How global warming could increase the threat of waterborne diseases
Fact sheet published by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), 2010. Global warming is projected to increase the risk of more frequent and more widespread outbreaks of waterborne illnesses due to higher temperatures and more severe weather events.Source drinking water challenges: Changes to an Arctic tundra lake
Center for Climate and Health Bulletin No. 2, 2009. Blooms of organic material have in the past been observed in the source water lake in Point Hope, but conditions have been extreme over the past two years. If warm temperatures continue, organic blooms will become a reoccurring problem for Point Hope and other communities that depend on tundra lakes for their drinking water supply. (PDF 1.57 MB)Tides of trouble: Increased threats to human health and ecosystems from harmful algal blooms
Fact sheet published by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), 2010. The proliferation of harmful algal blooms (HABs) is a matter of growing global environmental health concern. These dangerous blooms of tiny microalgae can produce potent toxins that can harm people, pets, and marine life, and contaminate aquatic food chains.Weather, water quality and infectious gastrointestinal illness in two Inuit communities in Nunatsiavut, Canada: Potential implications for climate change
S.L. Harper et al. EcoHealth (2011) 8(1):93-108. This study is the first to systematically gather, analyze, and compare baseline data on weather, water quality, and health in Nunatsiavut, and illustrates the need for high-quality temporal baseline information to allow for detection of future impacts of climate change on regional Inuit human and environmental health.Atmosphere, Air Quality, and Temperature Extremes
Adaptation to impacts of climate change on aeroallergens and allergic respiratory diseases
P.J. Beggs. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2010) 7(8):3006-3021. Climate change has the potential to have many significant impacts on aeroallergens such as pollen and mould spores, and therefore related diseases such as asthma and allergic rhinitis. This paper critically reviews this topic, with a focus on the potential adaptation measures that have been identified to date.Aeroallergens, allergic disease, and climate change: Impacts and adaptation
C.E. Reid, J.L. Gamble. EcoHealth (2009) 6(3):458-470. As regional climates change, plants can move into new areas and changes in atmospheric circulation can blow pollen- and spore-containing dust to new areas, thus introducing people to allergens to which they have not been exposed previously. Climate change also influences the concentrations of airborne pollutants, which alone, and in conjunction with aeroallergens, can exacerbate asthma or other respiratory illnesses.Air quality in a changing climate
Environmental Health Perspectives (2011) 119(4):A154-A155. Because air quality and climate are inextricably linked, most sources emit contaminants that impact both the levels of traditional air pollutants and the set of climate "forcers" (carbon dioxide, methane, black carbon, and others) now of great concern.Analysis of airborne Betula pollen in Finland: A 31-year perspective
E. Yli-Panula et al. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2009) 6(6):1706-1723. Increases in temperature, especially during months preceding the onset of the birch pollen season, favor preseason phenological development and pollen dispersal. To date, the public health burden associated with personal exposure to elevated birch pollen loads remains unclear and is the focus of future epidemiological research.Arctic glacial dust may affect climate and health in North America and Europe
ScienceDaily, February 20, 2010. Residents of the southern United States and the Caribbean have seen in summer months a whitish haze in the sky that seems to hang around for days. The resulting thin film of dust on their homes and cars actually is soil from the deserts of Africa, blown across the Atlantic Ocean. Now, there is new evidence that similar dust storms in the Arctic, possibly caused by receding glaciers, may be making similar deposits in northern Europe and North America.Climate change, ozone, and ultraviolet radiation
Chapter 11 of AMAP Assessment Report: Arctic Pollution Issues, published in 1998 by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme.Climate change set to increase ozone-related deaths over next 60 years, scientists warn
Science Daily, September 27, 2011. Scientists are warning that death rates linked to climate change will increase in several European countries over the next 60 years.The effect of high ambient temperature on the elderly population in three regions of Sweden
J. Rocklöv, B. Forsberg. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2010) 7(6):2607-2619. In areas that today have mild climates the research activity has been rather limited, despite the fact that differences in temperature susceptibility will play a fundamental role in understanding the exposure, acclimatization, adaptation and health risks of a changing climate.Extreme allergies and global warming
Report by the National Wildlife Federation, 2010. Much is still unknown about the incidence of asthma and allergies, trends in airborne allergens, the relationship between allergies and climate, and the interconnections between airborne allergens and both climate and nonclimate risk factors.Extreme temperature episodes and mortality in Yakutsk, East Siberia
B.A. Revich, D.A. Shaposhnikov. Remote and Rural Health (2010) 10(2):1338. Although the health impacts of heat waves and, to a lesser extent, cold spells in big cities in moderate climates have been well documented, little is known about the same impacts in the circumpolar region. An epidemiological study in an Arctic town presents considerable difficulties for the statistician because of small population sizes. The aim of this study was to take these difficulties into account and assess the impacts of extreme temperature events on mortality rates in Yakutsk, a city with a strongly continental climate, situated near the north pole.Future climate change may increase asthma attacks in children
Science Daily, August 30, 2011. Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers have found that climate change may lead to more asthma-related health problems in children, and more emergency room visits in the next decade.Heat health planning: The importance of social and community factors
J. Yardley et al. Global Environmental Change (2011) 21(2):670-679. This paper reviews the literature on the social and community level factors that affect heat-related morbidity and mortality in order to identify shortfalls in current heat health response plans so that new approaches can be recommended.Heat stroke in Alaska's Arctic
J. Burke, Alaska Dispatch, July 20, 2011. Generally, Alaskans aren't confronted with suffocating heat waves like the one much of the United States is currently dealing with. But that doesn't mean heat in the nation's westernmost and northernmost outpost isn't ever an issue.Mysteries of ozone depletion continue 25 years after the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole
Science Daily, August 30, 2011. Even after many decades of studying ozone and its loss from our atmosphere miles above Earth, plenty of mysteries and surprises remain, including an unexpected loss of ozone over the Arctic this past winter.Ozone and ultraviolet radiation
Chapter 5 (pages 151-182) of ACIA Scientific Report, Cambridge University Press, 2005. Because of the low solar elevation in the Arctic, the region is subject to an increased proportion of diffuse UV radiation, from scattering in the atmosphere as well as from reflectance off snow and ice. A reduction in snow and ice cover on the surface of rivers, lakes, or oceans is likely to increase the exposure of many organisms to damaging UV radiation. (PDF 1.19 MB)Ozone levels over the Arctic hit all-time low
P. Thomson, PRI's "The World," April 5, 2011. Scientists with the UN's World Meteorological Organization reported that ozone levels over the Arctic were down as much as 40 percent at the end of this year's northern winter. That's roughly a third worse than the previous low, and it's bad news for people in much of the northern hemisphere, because it means a lot more of the sun's damaging ultraviolet radiation may be hitting many of us.Persistent organic pollutants in large concentrations in Arctic areas: Fires spread environmental toxins over the Arctic
ScienceDaily, June 1, 2010. Forest fires and straw and stubble burning in North America and Eastern Europe are leading to record-high concentrations of the environmental toxin PCB over Svalbard. As a result of climate change, airborne pollution is thus becoming an increasing problem in the Arctic.Planet allergy
C. Gagné, Allergic Living (2009). Wasp sting reactions in Alaska, wildfire pollution, unprecedented mold levels, and robust ragweed simply everywhere. Our increasingly warm Earth is a giant hothouse for allergy and asthma triggers that are evolving and expanding.Predicting effects of climate change, with Kristie Ebi
Podcast and transcript of a 2009 interview from The Researcher's Perspective, the podcast series from Environmental Health Perspectives. Dr. Kristie Ebi is a leading authority on the potential impacts of climate change on human health. She is an independent consultant and has served on numerous scientific panels, including the highly influential Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.Public health impacts of climate change in Washington state: Projected mortality risks due to heat events and air pollution
E. Jackson et al. Climatic Change (2010) 102(1-2):159-186. Public health interventions aimed at protecting Washington's population from excessive heat and increased ozone concentrations will become increasingly important for preventing deaths, especially among older adults. Furthermore, heat- and air-quality-related illnesses that do not result in death, but are serious nevertheless, may be reduced by the same measures.Record-low Arctic ozone leads to high UV radiation in Finland
Yale Environment 360, April 5, 2011. The effects of record low ozone over the Arctic have reached southern Scandinavia, where large ozone-depleted air masses have produced higher ultraviolet radiation levels in Finland, scientists say.Toward a quantitative estimate of future heat wave mortality under global climate change
R.D. Peng et al. Environmental Health Perspectives (2011) 119(5):701-706. Climate change is anticipated to affect human health by changing the distribution of known risk factors. Heat waves have had debilitating effects on human mortality, and global climate models predict an increase in the frequency and severity of heat waves.Unprecedented Arctic ozone loss in 2011
G.L. Manney et al. Nature (2011) doi:10.1038/nature10556. The authors demonstrate that chemical ozone destruction over the Arctic in early 2011 was, for the first time in the observational record, comparable to that in the Antarctic ozone hole. Read more about the study in a CBC News article and in a Science Daily article.Use of a remote car starter in relation to smog and climate change perceptions: A population survey in Québec (Canada)
D. Bélanger et al. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2009) 6(2):694-709. Remote car starters encourage motorists to warm up their vehicles by idling the motor, thus increasing atmospheric pollutants, including several greenhouse gases (GHG), with impacts on public health. This study about climate change adaptation and mitigation actions examined perceptions on air pollution and climate change and individual characteristics associated with the use of a remote car starter.Weather, climate, and public health
F. Ballester et al. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (2003) 57(10):759-760. The relation between environmental temperature and health has been known for a very long time. However, there is growing worry concerning the potential impact on health of an increase of ambient temperature because of the process of "global warming."Elders and Children
Climate change and health effects on older adults
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers a brief explanation of the health challenges older adults may face with climate change.Climate change and the health of children
This is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's webpage explaining health challenges children may face with climate change.Climate change puts children in jeopardy
R. Voelker. JAMA (2009) 301(21):2197-2199. Children's health advocates say that pediatricians and other clinicians who care for children can play a significant role in addressing the effects of climate change to create a healthier world for children around the globe.The effect of high ambient temperature on the elderly population in three regions of Sweden
J. Rocklöv, B. Forsberg. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2010) 7(6):2607-2619. In areas that today have mild climates the research activity has been rather limited, despite the fact that differences in temperature susceptibility will play a fundamental role in understanding the exposure, acclimatization, adaptation and health risks of a changing climate.Future climate change may increase asthma attacks in children
Science Daily, August 30, 2011. Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers have found that climate change may lead to more asthma-related health problems in children, and more emergency room visits in the next decade.Global climate change and children's health: Threats and strategies for prevention
P.E. Sheffield, P.J. Landrigan. Environmental Health Perspectives (2011) 119(3):291-298. Climate change is increasing the global burden of disease and in the year 2000 was responsible for > 150,000 deaths worldwide. Of this disease burden, 88% fell upon children. Here, the authors review projected impacts of climate change on children's health, the pathways involved in these effects, and prevention strategies.Psychosocial Health
Alaska Natives assessing the health of their environment
D. Garza. International Journal of Circumpolar Health (2001) 60(4):479-486. The changes in Alaska's ecosystems caused by pollution, contaminants and global climate change are negatively impacting Alaska Natives and rural residents who rely on natural resources for food, culture and community identity.Beyond the tipping point: Understanding perceptions of abrupt climate change and their implications
R. Bellamy, M. Hulme. Weather, Climate, and Society (2011) 3(1):48-60. This article explores the influence of personal values and ontological beliefs on people's perceptions of possible abrupt changes in the Earth's climate system and on their climate change mitigation preferences. A strong fatalistic narrative emerged from within abrupt climate change discourses, with frequent referrals to helplessness, societal collapse, and catastrophe.Changing Climate, Changing Health, Changing Stories
This is a community-led, capacity-building research project situated in the Inuit community of Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Labrador. Directed by the Rigolet Inuit Community Government, and funded by Health Canada's First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (with complementary funding from the Nasivvik Centre for Inuit Health and Changing Environments, and the Nunatsiavut Department of Health and Social Development), this multi-year project examines the impacts of climate change on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and well-being.Climate change and global health: Quantifying a growing ethical crisis
J.A. Patz et al. EcoHealth (2007) 4(4):397-405. Climate change, as an environmental hazard operating at the global scale, poses a unique and "involuntary" exposure to many societies, and therefore represents possibly the largest health inequity of our time.Climate change and mental health: Uncertainty and vulnerability for Alaska Natives
Center for Climate and Health Bulletin No. 3, 2010. Climate change is currently affecting the health of Alaska Natives, through impacts of: extreme weather changes to the local environment, and alterations in plants and animal resources. The mental health effect of such impacts remains incompletely researched and understood. This bulletin provides an academic review of Alaska Native climate change mental health impact pathways, and potential responses to mental health effects. (PDF 838 KB)Climate change psychology: Coping and creating solutions
Science Daily, April 18, 2011. Psychologists are offering new insight and solutions to help counter climate change, while helping people cope with the environmental, economic, and health impacts already taking a toll on people's lives, according to a special issue of American Psychologist.Environmental change and social, cultural, and mental health in the Arctic
International Arctic Science Committee, Encyclopedia of Earth, February 9, 2010. The rapid social, cultural, and economic transition that Arctic communities have seen over the past 50 years has influenced lifestyles and individual and community health. These changes are very likely to be affected and even accentuated by climate change in the future.Global environmental change and human health
J. Eyles, S.J. Elliott. Canadian Geographer (2001) 45(1):99-104. The authors explore how the impacts of global change on environment affect the health and well-being of Canadians. In particular, they examine the effects of climate change and pollution, as well as the impacts of environmental contaminant situations on psychosocial health and well-being.Major impacts of climate change expected on mental health
ScienceDaily, December 7, 2009. Leading mental health researchers are warning that some of the most important health consequences of climate change will be on mental health.Psychology and global climate change: Addressing a multifaceted phenomenon and set of challenges
Report of the American Psychological Association Task Force on the Interface Between Psychology & Global Climate Change, 2010. The report's primary aim is to engage members of the psychology community (teachers, researchers, practitioners, and students) in the issue of climate change. The report describes the contributions of psychological research to an understanding of psychological dimensions of global climate change, provides research recommendations, and proposes policies for APA to assist psychologists' engagement with this issue.Public Health
An action plan for public health: Initial recommendations for involving public health in climate change policy
Report prepared by Public Health Law & Policy (PHLP), 2010. PHLP has embarked upon the task of providing the public health community with the practical tools, policy strategies, and legal resources it needs to effectively participate in climate change planning activities taking place at the state, regional, and local levels. To accomplish this, PHLP is working in cooperation with a coalition of stakeholders, including experts in public health, land use planning, climate science, and environmental law.Adapting to climate change: Public health
This paper addresses the projected health consequences of climate change, reviewing the projected adverse effects, the diverse strategies that might mitigate these effects, and the potential effectiveness of these strategies. It addresses temperature, aeroallergens and allergic diseases, air pollution, and infectious diseases. (PDF 872 KB)Adapting to climate change: What should the health sector be doing?
International Journal of Circumpolar Health (2009) 68(1):6-7. The heat wave that occurred in August 2003 in Europe was unprecedented. The huge impact on the health of Europeans caused health policy makers to seriously consider this environmental hazard, in many countries for the first time.Alaska the 'poster state' for climate concerns
E. Weise. USA Today (updated 5/31/06). Alaska is important in measuring the effect of global warming on the USA because what happens here soon will be felt in the Lower 48 states.Analyses of the effects of global change on human health and welfare and human systems
A report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research which outlines direct impacts of climate change on human health.An approach for assessing human health vulnerability and public health interventions to adapt to climate change
K.L. Ebi et al. Environmental Health Perspectives (2006) 114(12):1930-1934. The authors developed methods for country-level assessments to help policy makers make evidence-based decisions to increase resilience to current and future climates, and to provide information for national communications to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.Arctic human health initiative: A contribution to the International Polar Year
A.J. Parkinson. Circumpolar Health Supplements (2010) 6. Human health concerns and challenges of Arctic peoples include the health impacts of environmental contaminants, climate change, and rapidly changing social and economic conditions.As global temperatures rise, so do health risks
PBS NewsHour, December 24, 2009. While there may be debate over what's causing global climate change, there are far fewer questions about the effect of a warming planet on human health, reports Ray Suarez.Background paper on the human health consequences of climate change in the circumpolar north
L.D. Weiss. Proceedings of the Fifth Northern Research Forum (2008). There is a consensus in the literature that climate change and the resulting health consequences will probably be most severe in far northern regions. Since the average Arctic temperature has increased at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the world during the last 20 years, northern regions may be a sentinel site for the detection of changes in the epidemiology of hazards to human health resulting from climate change.Beyond climate focus and disciplinary myopia: The roles and responsibilities of hospitals and healthcare professionals
J.P. Ulhøi, B.P. Ulhøi. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2009) 6(3):1204-1214. So far, health-providing organizations such as hospitals have paid surprisingly little attention to the relationships between environmental change (e.g., climate change) and human health, or between hospitals (as professional organizations) and their impact on sustainable development.Canadian federal support for climate change and health research compared with the risks posed
J.D. Ford et al. American Journal of Public Health (2011) 101(5):814-821. For emerging public health risks such as climate change, the Canadian federal government has a mandate to provide information and resources to protect citizens' health. Research is a key component of this mandate and is essential if Canada is to moderate the health effects of a changing climate.CDC targets climate change
B.M. Kuehn. JAMA (2010) 304(20):2205. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is awarding $5.25 million in grants to support state and local programs to combat health concerns related to global warming.Climate and Health E-News
This e-newsletter is distributed weekly via listserv by the Center for Climate and Health at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. It's an up-to-date source of information on climate-related health issues in Alaska and other areas of the circumpolar north.Climate and your health: Addressing the most serious health impacts of climate change
Fact sheet published by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), 2011. Science shows that climate change will affect human health across the world. From diminished air quality and degradation of food and water supplies to increasing levels of allergens and catastrophic weather events, we will experience a number of worsening health threats during our lifetimes.Climate change: The implications for policy on injury control and health promotion
I. Roberts, M. Hillman. Injury Prevention (2005) 11(6):326-329. As climate change is a risk factor for both violence and unintentional injury, and because controlling climate change provides substantial scope for the promotion of health, it should be the focus of policy for the injury control community.Climate change: Present and future risks to health, and necessary responses
A.J. McMichael, E. Lindgren. Journal of Internal Medicine (2011) 270(5):401-413. Climate change will amplify health problems in vulnerable regions, influence infectious disease emergence, affect food yields and nutrition, increase risks of climate-related disasters, and impair mental health. The health sector should assist society understand the risks to health and the needed responses.Climate change—The public health imperative
M.A. Pittman. Voices for a Healthy Future (2010). Newsletter published by the Public Health Institute. (PDF 439 KB)Climate change: The public health response
H. Frumkin et al. American Journal of Public Health (2008) 98(3):435-445. There is scientific consensus that the global climate is changing, with rising surface temperatures, melting ice and snow, rising sea levels, and increasing climate variability. These changes are expected to have substantial impacts on human health.Climate change: A time of need and opportunity for the health sector
A.J. McMichael et al. The Lancet. Published online November 25, 2009.This article calls attention to the importance of the public health sector in addressing challenges and opportunities presented by climate change.Climate change and environmental impacts on maternal and newborn health with focus on Arctic populations
C. Rylander et al. Global Health Action (2011) 4:DOI: 10.3402/gha.v4i0.8452. Air pollution and food security are crucial issues for the pregnant population in a changing climate, especially indoor climate and food security in Arctic areas.Climate change and health: A project with women of Labrador
S.L. Owens, Master's Thesis, Université Laval, 2005. This research project is exploratory, utilizing a qualitative approach to identify environmental and climate changes in the Nain, Labrador, region and the effects of these changes by accessing the local knowledge of resident women. The objective of the research was to identify the implications of these changes to health.Climate change and health and well-being in Canada's North
M. Armstrong. Newsletter of the Northern Climate Exchange (2004). Climate change is affecting the environment and, thus, traditional lifestyles in the North, and it is important to understand how these changes will affect people's health.Climate change and health effects in Northwest Alaska
M. Brubaker et al. Global Health Action (2011) 4:DOI:10.3402/gha.v4i0.8445. This article provides examples of adverse health effects, including weather-related injury, food insecurity, mental health issues, and water infrastructure damage, and the responses to these effects that are currently being applied in two Northwest Alaska communities.Climate change and health impacts: Point Hope, Alaska
Center for Climate and Health, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. This report describes climate impacts observed in Point Hope, Alaska. It relies upon the observations, data and traditional ecological knowledge provided by local partners. Additionally, scientific data on environment, health and climate is provided where available. The purpose is to describe changes that are occurring so as to help in the development of adaptive strategies that encourage community health and resilience. Published October 2009 (6.83 MB PDF).Climate change and health in British Columbia: Projected impacts and a proposed agenda for adaptation research and policy
A. Ostry et al. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2010) 7(3):1018-1035. This is a case study describing how climate change may affect the health of British Columbians and suggesting a way forward to promote health and policy research, and adaptation to these changes.Climate change and the health of the public
H. Frumkin et al., eds. American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2008) 35(5):401-538. This entire issue of AJPM is dedicated to climate change and health. Articles include:
- Climate change and the health of the public
- Climate change and public health: Thinking, communicating, acting
- Climate change and health: Strengthening the evidence base for policy
- Think locally, act globally: How curbing global warming emissions can improve local public health
- The year 2008: A breakthrough year for health protection from climate change?
- Climate change, health sciences, and education
- Climate change and extreme heat events
- Climate and vectorborne diseases
- Climate change, air quality, and human health
- Climate change: The importance of place
- Public perception of climate change: Voluntary mitigation and barriers to behavior change
- Communication and marketing as climate change intervention assets: A public health perspective
- Community-based adaptation to the health impacts of climate change
- Building human resilience: The role of public health preparedness and response as an adaptation to climate change
- The built environment, climate change, and health: Opportunities for co-benefits
- Climate change: Impacts on, and implications for, global health
Climate change and health research: Time for teamwork
S.H. Hrynkow. Environmental Health Perspectives (2008) 116(11):A470. As efforts toward mitigation of climate change gather momentum, there is an increased need to understand the linkages between climate change and human health and the potential health consequences of mitigation strategies. Although there is substantial knowledge of how climate change can affect human health, there is much the scientific community does not know or understand.Climate change and human health
International Journal of Circumpolar Health (2005) 64(5). This entire issue is dedicated to effects of climate change on human health.Climate change and human health
G. Luber, N. Prudent. Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association (2009) 120:113-117. Climate change science points to an increase in sea surface temperature, increases in the severity of extreme weather events, declining air quality, and destabilizing natural systems due to increases in greenhouse gas emissions. The direct and indirect health results of such a global imbalance include excessive heat-related illnesses, vector- and waterborne diseases, increased exposure to environmental toxins, exacerbation of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases due to declining air quality, and mental health stress among others.Climate change and human health: Risks and responses
Report published by the World Health Organization in collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 2003. The report seeks to provide quantitative estimates of the total health impacts of climate change. It lays out the steps necessary to further scientific investigation and to develop strategies and policies to help societies adapt to climate change (PDF 2.26 MB). Also available is a summary of the report (PDF 615 KB).Climate change and the impact on human health – An Alaska perspective
Dr. Jeff Demain, founder and director of the Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Center of Alaska, presented this talk at the 2009 Alaska WWAMI Mini Medical School on October 20, 2009. He discussed his research on the health effects of climate change in Alaska. This recording aired on KSKA Public Radio's "Addressing Alaskans" on November 19, 2009. (MP3—29.2 MB, 1:04:00)Climate change and impacts on human health in the Arctic: An international workshop on emerging threats and the response of Arctic communities to climate change
A.J. Parkinson, J. Berner. International Journal of Circumpolar Health (2009) 68(1):84-91. Summary of workshop held in Anchorage, Alaska, February 13-15, 2008.Climate Change and Public Health
Webpage produced by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Climate change and public health
Statement by Julie L. Gerberding, MD, MPH, Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, United States Senate, October 23, 2007.Climate change can be hazardous to your health
D. Fischer, The Daily Climate, July 13, 2010. From heat stress to sewage overflows, climate change promises to bring extreme weather that can throw our nation's ill-prepared public health infrastructure 'back to the 1890s,' according to experts.Climate change effects on human health in a gender perspective: Some trends in Arctic research
K. Natalia. Global Health Action (2011) 4:DOI: 10.3402/gha.v4i0.7913. Gender approach towards climate change impacts on human health would imply exploring, for example, how gender power relations are involved in the context of climate and environmental impacts on human health; what dispositions are available to men and women; which adaptation and resilience strategies are at the disposal of women and men; how health risks, health rights, and health security are perceived by women and men and, in turn, how their awareness affects their situation and agency.Climate change, health, and vulnerability in Canadian northern aboriginal communities
C. Furgal, J. Seguin. Environmental Health Perspectives (2006) 114(12):1964-1970. This article reviews experiences from two projects that have taken a community-based dialogue approach to identifying and assessing the effects of, and vulnerability to, climate change and the impact on the health in two Inuit regions of the Canadian Arctic.Climate change health assessment: A novel approach for Alaska Native communities
M.Y. Brubaker et al. International Journal of Circumpolar Health (2011) 70(3):266-273. In Alaska, the effects of climate change vary by region and by community, but across the state residents are concerned about threats to food and water resources, public safety, and infrastructure. In response, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) developed a Climate Change Health Assessment (CCHA) process that identifies vulnerability and develops response capacity at the local and regional level.Climate change, human health, and integrative research: A transformative imperative
A.J. McMichael, B.A. Wilcox. EcoHealth (2009) 6(2):163-164. Our societies have not yet gotten the full measure of the risks posed by climate change, particularly the risks to health. Nor is it well understood that many risks will be compounded by the actions of coexistent stressors, such as land degradation, water shortages, disruptions to the global cycles of nitrogen and phosphorus, accelerating biodiversity losses, and ocean acidification.Climate change impact on public health in the Russian Arctic
B. Revich et al. United Nations in the Russian Federation, 2008. The negative impact of climate warming in the Russian Arctic is seen even more clearly than in other parts of the country. Global warming creates significant challenges for both public health and traditional natural resources management among indigenous peoples in the Arctic.Climate change in Kiana, Alaska: Strategies for community health
Report prepared by ANTHC Center for Climate and Health, October 2011. Kiana is a small Inupiat Eskimo community located on the north bank of the Kobuk River. Life in Kiana revolves around subsistence, and people engage year-round in hunting, fishing, and gathering wild foods and materials. Perhaps the most important impact from warming is the thawing of permafrost along the rivers, under lakes, and across the land. (PDF 6.35 MB)Climate change in Kivalina, Alaska: Strategies for community health
Report prepared by ANTHC Center for Climate and Health, January 2011. This report describes climate change impacts on Kivalina, a small Inupiat Eskimo community located on the coast of the Chukchi Sea. Data sources included the observations of local residents, reports from local and regional government officials and health professionals, and scientific evidence gathered from published sources. (PDF 7.62 MB)Climate change in Noatak, Alaska: Strategies for community health
Report prepared by ANTHC Center for Climate and Health, June 2011. In Noatak, the rate of climate change is not just measured in decades, but rather in years, months, or even hours. Residents traveling the Noatak River encounter sections of collapsed riverbank that were intact only hours before. (PDF 8.2 MB)Climate change in Point Hope, Alaska: Strategies for community health
Report prepared by ANTHC Center for Climate and Health, August 2010. This report identifies three issues of special public health concern in Point Hope: (1) the permafrost that cools traditional underground food storage cellars is thawing; (2) warming is contributing to changes in 7 Mile Lake, the community drinking water source; and (3) the community is increasingly vulnerable to flooding due to storm intensity, erosion, and late freeze-up. (PDF 10.3 MB)Climate change influences infectious diseases both in the Arctic and the tropics: Joining the dots
B. Evengård, R. Sauerborn. Global Health Action (2009) DOI: 10.3402/gha.v2i0.2106. Despite obvious differences in environmental and socio-economic contexts, there are commonalities between these areas, both in the mechanisms through which climate change influences disease transmission and in the adaptation responses health systems can and should mount.Climate change is a daily reality for Inuit (Letter from Reykjavik)
S. Nickels. Alternatives Journal (2004) 30(5):7. Altered land and marine wildlife migratory patterns, the declining quality of traditional meats and pelts such as caribou and seal, and shifting permafrost levels all have an effect on community and infrastructure.Climate change, its impact on human health in the Arctic and the public health response to threats of emerging infectious diseases
A.J. Parkinson, B. Evengård. Global Health Action (2009) DOI: 10.3402/gha.v2i0.2075. Resident indigenous populations of the Arctic are uniquely vulnerable to climate change because of their close relationship with, and dependence on, the land, sea, and natural resources for their well-being.Climate, Ecosystems & Human Health Work Group
The primary purpose of this group is to identify and describe climate impacts that are priorities for public health. By engaging the broad, interdisciplinary experience of the various partner agencies, this work group will help improve the quality of information, services, and technical assistance available to Alaskans, and elevate awareness about climate-health connections. The CEHH WG will also communicate key priorities and needs to the Alaska Climate Change Executive Roundtable and the Governor's Sub-Cabinet on Climate Change.Community perspectives on the impact of climate change on health in Nunavut, Canada
G.K. Healey et al. Arctic (2011) 64(1):89-97. The purpose of this study was to explore community perspectives on the most important ways that climate change is affecting the health of northern peoples. Participants believed that by engaging in a process of ongoing reflection, and by continually incorporating new knowledge and experiences into traditional knowledge systems, communities may be better able to adapt and cope with the challenges to health posed by climate change.Doctors urged to take climate leadership role
F. Harvey, guardian.co.uk, April 5, 2011. Doctors must take a leading role in highlighting the dangers of climate change, which will lead to conflict, disease, and ill-health, and threatens global security, according to a stark warning from an unusual alliance of physicians and military leaders.Driven to extremes: Health effects of climate change
J. Tibbets. Environmental Health Perspectives (2007) 115(4):A196-A203. This article discusses disease fallout from extreme weather caused by climate change.Emerging threats to human health from global environmental change
S.S. Myers, J.A. Patz. Annual Review of Environment and Resources (2009) 34:223-252. Large-scale anthropogenic changes to the natural environment, including land-use change, climate change, and the deterioration of ecosystem services, are all accelerating. These changes are interacting to generate five major emerging public health threats that endanger the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of people. These threats include increasing exposure to infectious disease, water scarcity, food scarcity, natural disasters, and population displacement.Environmental change and social, cultural, and mental health in the Arctic
International Arctic Science Committee, Encyclopedia of Earth, February 9, 2010. The rapid social, cultural, and economic transition that Arctic communities have seen over the past 50 years has influenced lifestyles and individual and community health. These changes are very likely to be affected and even accentuated by climate change in the future.Environmental health indicators of climate change for the United States: Findings from the State Environmental Health Indicator Collaborative
P.B. English et al. Environmental Health Perspectives (2009) 117(11):1673-1681. To develop public health adaptation strategies and to project the impacts of climate change on human health, indicators of vulnerability and preparedness along with accurate surveillance data on climate-sensitive health outcomes are needed.Global climate change: Impacts in the United States—Human health chapter
Chapter from a report published by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, 2009. This chapter presents key findings about the human health effects of climate change in the United States. (PDF 982 KB)Global climate change and health: Developing a research agenda for the NIH
J.P. Rosenthal et al. Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association (2009) 120:129-141. The impact of climate change on human health is likely to be complex and significant, including effects on cancers, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, food-, water-, and vector-borne diseases, heat-related illness, mental and social well-being, nutrition, trauma, and vulnerable demographic sectors.Global environmental change: The threat to human health
S.S. Myers, MD, MPH, Worldwatch Institute, 2009. It is increasingly apparent that the breadth and depth of the changes we are wreaking on the environment are imperiling not only many of the other species with which we share the ecological stage, but the health and wellbeing of our own species as well.Global environmental change: What can health care providers and the environmental health community do about it now?
B.S. Schwartz et al. Environmental Health Perspectives (2006) 114(12):1807-1812. Global environmental changes constitute a profound challenge to human health, both as a direct threat and as a promoter of other risks.Global environmental change and human health
J. Eyles, S.J. Elliott. Canadian Geographer (2001) 45(1):99-104. The authors explore how the impacts of global change on environment affect the health and well-being of Canadians. In particular, they examine the effects of climate change and pollution, as well as the impacts of environmental contaminant situations on psychosocial health and well-being.Global environmental change and human health: A public health research agenda
J.P. Mackenbach. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (2007) 61(2):92-94. Environmental problems, and our perceptions of their current and future health effects, have changed over the decades. About 20-40 years back, public health was most concerned about localized environmental degradation, as exemplified by air and water pollution. We have since become aware, however, of the threats to human health which operate at a much larger geographical scale.Global health and climate change: Moving from denial and catastrophic fatalism to positive action
A. Costello et al. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A (2011) 369(1942):1866-1882. Climate change will be a major threat to population health in the current century through its potential effects on communicable disease, heat stress, food and water security, extreme weather events, vulnerable shelter, and population migration. This paper addresses three health-sector strategies to manage the health effects of climate change—promotion of mitigation, tackling the pathways that lead to ill-health, and strengthening health systems.Global warming: A public health concern
B.M. Afzal, MS, RN. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing (2007) 12(2). This article provides a brief overview of global warming and climate changes, discusses effects of climate change on health, considers the factors that contribute to climate changes, and reviews individual and collective efforts related to reducing global warming.Health and environmental effects
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides links to information resources on the human health and environmental effects of climate change.The health benefits of tackling climate change: An executive summary for The Lancet series
The Lancet studies, supported by a global partnership of funders, were undertaken by an international team of researchers with the aim of informing discussions at the 2009 Copenhagen conference of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Authored by an international group of public health, environmental, and other scientists, each focuses on one sector in which greenhouse-gas emissions need to be reduced. (PDF 4.39 MB)Health effects of climate change
A. Haines, J.A. Patz. JAMA (2004) 291(1):99-103. The residence time in the atmosphere of carbon dioxide exceeds 100 years; therefore, our actions affect the prospects of future generations.Health effects of climate change
Fact sheet published by National Institutes of Health in October 2010.Health effects of climate change
National Wildlife Federation hosted this forum on the health effects of climate change. The speakers were Jeffrey Demain, MD, who has researched the allergic and respiratory impacts of climate change; Michael Brubaker, MS, director of the Center for Climate and Health at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium; and Joe McLaughlin, MD, chief epidemiologist for State of Alaska. The forum was recorded at University of Alaska Anchorage on March 16, 2010, and aired on KSKA Public Radio's "Addressing Alaskans" on March 25, 2010. (MP3—46.0 MB, 1:40:34) Also available here is Mr. Brubaker's slide presentation, Climate Change Effects on Community Health: Observations from Northwest Alaska. (PDF 3.01 MB)Health effects of global warming: Developing countries are the most vulnerable
P. Kasotia. UN Chronicle (2007) 44(2):48-49. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that the increase in global atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is primarily due to fossil fuel use and, in a smaller but still significant level, to land-use change.The health impacts of climate change: Getting started on a new theme
K.L. Ebi et al. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine (2008) 23(Suppl 2):60-64. To effectively prepare for and cope with climate change impacts, public health must move from a focus on surveillance and response to a greater emphasis on prediction and prevention.Health in the Arctic and climate change
H.S. Pedersen. Polar Research (2007) 26(2):104-106. The Arctic environment is like a magnifying glass. Many of the hazards stemming from industrial activity in the South tend to concentrate in the North. This is true for DDT, PCB, heavy metals and many other substances that may endanger human health. Climate change is yet another example of how the negative impact of industrial activity may be magnified in the Arctic region.The health of Arctic populations: Does cold matter?
T.K. Young, T.M. Mäkinen. American Journal of Human Biology (2010) 22(1):129-133. With climate change increasingly affecting the Arctic, the association between climate and population health status is of public health significance.The health practitioner's guide to climate change: Diagnosis and cure
J. Griffiths et al. (eds.), Earthscan, 2009, 380 pages. This book was published in a year when climate change took center stage in the world's arena with the much-anticipated U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The authors' goal is to offer resources to healthcare practitioners on climate change and its interaction with health, but also, more importantly, suggestions on actions they can undertake to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and to advocate for social and policy change.Health problems heat up: Climate change and the public's health
Report prepared by Trust for America's Health (TFAH), October 2009. In this report, TFAH (1) examines the human health effects of climate change and the role public health authorities must play in preventing and preparing for further climate-related damage, (2) explores the needs of state and local health departments as they set out to conduct climate change needs assessments and develop strategic plans to prevent and prepare for climate change, and (3) recommends increased action from federal, state, and local government to protect the nation from the harmful effects of climate change. (PDF 882 KB)Health scenarios for a warming world
C.M. Cooney. Environmental Health Perspectives (2010) 118(9):A382. A new NRC report discusses three main types of health-related stress expected from rising average temperatures: illness and infectious diseases carried by animal hosts and mosquitoes and other vectors, heat-related illness and deaths, and health problems due to air pollution and water contamination.Heat health planning: The importance of social and community factors
J. Yardley et al. Global Environmental Change (2011) 21(2):670-679. This paper reviews the literature on the social and community level factors that affect heat-related morbidity and mortality in order to identify shortfalls in current heat health response plans so that new approaches can be recommended.Human health
Chapter 15 (pages 863-906) of ACIA Scientific Report, Cambridge University Press, 2005. Health status in many arctic regions has changed significantly over the past decades, and the climate, weather, and environment have played, and will continue to play, a significant role in the health of residents in these regions. (PDF 1.77 MB)Human health and global climate change: A review of potential impacts in the United States
Report prepared for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, December 2000. This is the sixth in a series of Pew Center reports evaluating the potential impacts of climate change on the U.S. environment and society. The report finds that, because the linkages between climate and human health are often complex and not well defined, it is difficult to predict exactly how climate change will impact human health in the United States. (PDF 409 KB)Human health in a changing climate: A Canadian assessment of vulnerabilities and adaptive capacity
Report by the Climate Change and Health Office, Health Canada, 2008. This assessment provides the most up-to-date synthesis of knowledge on how the health of Canadians is affected by the climate and what lies ahead under future climate scenarios. It explores how governments, communities, and individuals are drawing on current capacity to address and mitigate the effects of climate on health. (PDF 16.7 MB) A synthesis report is also available. (PDF 13.5 MB)A human health perspective on climate change: A report outlining the research needs on the human health effects of climate change
Report by the Interagency Working Group on Climate Change and Health (IWGCCH), published by Environmental Health Perspectives and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, April 22, 2010. The purpose of this paper is to identify research critical for understanding the impact of climate change on human health so that we can both mitigate and adapt to the environmental effects of climate change in the healthiest and most efficient ways. (PDF 5.37 MB)In Arctic, climate-change threats include giardia, food poisoning
A. DeMarban, Alaska Dispatch, March 2, 2011. Climate change presents new risks for food care, sanitation, and wellbeing in the Arctic, but little research has been done in remote villages experiencing some of the biggest temperature swings. That's beginning to change, thanks to a pair of reports that meld scientific data with local observations in the Northwest Alaska communities of Point Hope and Kivalina.Inuit health in a changing climate
James D. Ford of McGill University gave this presentation to guests at a dinner hosted by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health (IAPH) in Iqaluit, Nunavut, May 11, 2010.Northern health will suffer from climate change, doctor says
CBC News, June 19, 2006. Climate change is the biggest threat to the health of people living in northern regions, the co-chair of the International Conference on Circumpolar Health says.Nunatsiavut's public health surveillance in response to a changing climate: A baseline study
S. Owens et al., CHUQ, 2009. This report presents the Nunatsiavut Region results of a multiple case study of public health surveillance and environmental monitoring among four Inuit regions of the Canadian North.The perception factor: Climate change gets personal
C.M. Cooney. Environmental Health Perspectives (2010) 118(11):A484-A489. One way to encourage Americans to adopt a more serious outlook toward climate change is by having medical professionals link health issues and climate change impacts. Information about the potential health benefits of specific mitigation-related policy actions appears to be particularly compelling for individuals.Physicians and the environment
P.S. Auerbach. JAMA (2008) 299(8):956-958. Global climate change and other environmental issues are worthy of physicians' attention and understanding, although the full eventual effects on human health are not well defined.Preparing a people: Climate change and public health
C.M. Cooney. Environmental Health Perspectives (2011) 119(4):166-171. Changes in climate patterns that have been seen in the United States and around the world are likely to be connected with sweltering heat waves in Chicago, Milwaukee, and other locales, many scientists agree. Yet disease and mortality tied with heat are not the only public health dangers arising from climate change.Protecting health from climate change: Connecting science, policy and people
Report by the World Health Organization, 2009. Climate change can no longer be considered simply an environmental or developmental issue. More importantly, it puts at risk the protection and improvement of human health and well-being. A greater appreciation of the human health dimensions of climate change is necessary for both the development of effective policy and the mobilization of public engagement.Public health ethics in times of global environmental change: Time to look beyond human interests
J.P. Mackenbach. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health (2007) 35(1):1-3. Global environmental changes form potential, though partly or largely unknown, threats to human health, for example through heatwaves and other extreme weather events, changes in the spread of microorganisms, changes in biological productivity of land and water, and air and water pollution.Public perceptions of climate change as a human health risk: Surveys of the United States, Canada and Malta
K. Akerlof et al. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2010) 7(6):2559-2606. The authors used data from nationally representative surveys conducted in the United States, Canada and Malta between 2008 and 2009 to answer three questions: Does the public believe that climate change poses human health risks, and if so, are they seen as current or future risks? Whose health does the public think will be harmed? In what specific ways does the public believe climate change will harm human health?Readying health services for climate change: A policy framework for regional development
E. Bell. American Journal of Public Health (2011) 101(5):804-813. The relative neglect of implementation science means that policymakers need to be proactive about sourcing and developing models and processes to make health services ready for climate change. Health research funding agencies should urgently prioritize applied, regionally responsive health services research for a future of climate change.Rising temperatures and threats to health: More concerted action on public health coming from medical community interests
L. Palmer, Yale Forum, June 7, 2011. Public health/climate change connections increasingly being recognized by the medical establishment might help in informing the public at large. Policy experts say a growing awareness of the public health/climate linkage could be a key in breaking through political logjams impeding action on mitigation and adaptation.Risks to human health from a changing Arctic
Jay Van Oostdam BSc, DVM, MPH, Health Canada, HECSBr. Report at Arctic Health Week 2009 on the effects of climate change on the peoples of the arctic, their health and diet. (1,357 KB PDF)Sentinel symptoms of climate change: Indicators for related health effects
B. Weinhold. Environmental Health Perspectives (2009) 117(11):A504. A workgroup of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists has identified a set of indicators that it says will allow national and local officials in the United States to better predict climate-change health effects and to take appropriate action as it becomes warranted.Sustainable development, climate change and human health in the Arctic
A.J. Parkinson. International Journal of Circumpolar Health (2010) 69(1):99-105. Resident indigenous Arctic populations are uniquely vulnerable to climate change because of their close relationship with, and dependence on, the land, sea, and natural resources for their cultural, social, economic, and physical well-being. Climate change will affect the sustainable development of these communities through its impact on sanitation and water facilities, food supply, prevalence of infectious diseases, and transportation infrastructures.Taking the reins of the white horse of climate change
G.K. Jensen. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (2009) 63(4):269-270. According to a joint report from the European Environment Agency, the Joint Research Centre, and the World Health Organization published in September 2008, an urgent need now exists to increase awareness and action on the effects on human health of climate change.10 facts on climate change and health
World Health Organization's short fact file and photo gallery about predicted health effects of climate change.U.S. funding is insufficient to address the human health impacts of, and public health responses to, climate variability and change
K.L. Ebi et al. Environmental Health Perspectives (2009) 117(6):857-862. In this commentary, the authors summarize the health risks of climate change in the United States and examine the extent of federal funding devoted to understanding, avoiding, preparing for, and responding to the human health risks of climate change. In a subsequent issue of EHP, there is a letter from Glass et al. (2009) responding to this article.Using systematic reviews to separate scientific from policy debate relevant to climate change
M. Petticrew, G. McCartney. American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2011) 40(5):576-578. The Copenhagen summit was to be a moment in history when the international community was to agree that climate change is the most urgent and important threat facing global health and take decisive action to prevent its worst impacts. This article argues that the scientific debate could be more clearly separated from the political debate if the next Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis were to be underpinned by systematic literature review methods.Valuing climate change impacts on human health: Empirical evidence from the literature
A. Markandya, A. Chiabai. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2009) 6(2):759-786. This paper critically reviews a number of studies about the costs of planned adaptation in the health context, and compares current health expenditures with Millennium Development Goals which are felt to be inadequate when considering climate change impacts.A view from above: Use of satellite imagery to enhance our understanding of potential impacts of climate change on human health in the Arctic
N.G. Maynard, G.A. Conway. Alaska Medicine (2007) 49(2 Suppl):38-43. Increased capabilities for monitoring, risk mapping, information sharing, communications, and surveillance of environmental parameters are powerful tools for addressing environment-related health problems.Vulnerability of aboriginal health systems in Canada to climate change
J.D. Ford et al. Global Environmental Change (2010) 20(4):668-680. Despite limited research on climate change and aboriginal health, there is a well-established literature on aboriginal health outcomes, determinants, and trends in Canada, characteristics that will determine vulnerability to climate change. In this paper, the authors systematically review this literature, using a vulnerability framework to identify the broad-level factors constraining adaptive capacity and increasing sensitivity to climate change.Vulnerable populations in the Arctic
B. Evengard, ed. Global Health Action (2011) 4. This volume is a compilation of research-based evidence that highlights the effects of climate change on human health and living conditions in the arctic region. While emphasizing the need for more research on the subject, it also discusses what can and should be done to strengthen the capacities of societies to manage and overcome disturbances.Weather extremes hint at public health impacts of climate change
T. Zeller, Huffington Post, December 8, 2011. After a year of unprecedented destruction attributed to weather extremes, federal officials and environmental advocates are focusing increased attention on the potential health impacts of global warming, which most scientists expect to spur not just more frequent instances of extreme heat, but also increases in rainfall, drought, snow, floods, and violent storms.World Health Assembly 2008: Climate change and health
A.J. McMichael et al. Lancet (2008) 371(9628):1895-1896. The health sector, in general, has been slow to perceive the enormous significance of global climate change as a threat to Earth's life-support systems, including the provision of water, food, clean air, and stable ecosystems—and, therefore, to human well-being, health, and survival.