George Luber, PhD Associate Director for Climate Change

Climate and Health ProgramNational Center for Environmental Health

Climate Change Adaptation: Priority Actions for Public Health

PHI Side Event at UN High Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases, New York, September 19, 2011.

First the bad news… Despite existing breadth of organizations

and sectors with initiatives on climate change

Despite the likelihood of anticipated health effects of climate change

Public health effects of climate change remain

largely unaddressed

Potential Health Effects of Climate Change

Climate Change: Temperature rise

Sea level rise

Hydrologic extremes

HEAT Heat stress, cardiovascular failure

SEVERE WEATHER Injuries, fatalities

AIR POLLUTION Asthma, cardiovascular disease

ALLERGIES Respiratory allergies, poison ivy

VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES Malaria, dengue,

encephalitis, hantavirus, Rift Valley fever

WATER-BORNE DISEASES Cholera, cryptosporidiosis, campylobacter, leptospirosis

WATER AND FOOD SUPPLY Malnutrition, diarrhea,

harmful algal blooms

MENTAL HEALTH Anxiety, despair, depression, post-traumatic stress

ENVIRONMENTAL REFUGEES Forced migration, civil

conflictAdapted from J. Patz

CDC’s Priority actions for Climate Change

A set of “priority actions” that guide the public health approach

Emerged from recommendations to the CDC Climate Change Workgroup during the January 2007 meeting

Forms the cornerstone for CDC’s policy on Climate Change

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/climatechange/

Environmental Justice, poverty and disempowerment as critical vulnerability factors

“The rich will find their world to be more expensive, inconvenient, uncomfortable, disrupted and colorless — in general, more unpleasant and unpredictable, perhaps greatly so. The poor will die.”

Kirk R. Smith, 2008Professor, Environmental Health Sciences, UC- Berkeley

Priority Action: Focus on the Most Vulnerable

in Our Communities

Carbon Emissions (Density-Equalizing Cartogram)

The United States emits one quarter of the worlds gases that cause global

warming.

Mark Newman, University of Michigan │ www.worldmapper.org

Climate-Related Mortality

Those who are most affected are least responsible for the

greenhouse gas emissions that cause the problem

Mark Newman, University of Michigan │ www.worldmapper.org

September 22, 20092009 NASA Public Health Review Team Meeting

Efforts to mitigate or adapt to the effects of climate change frequently yield other health benefits.

Priority Action:

Identify and Leverage Climate and Health Co-benefits and Synergies in

Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Policies

Physical activity

Air pollution

And by the way… Infrastructure costs Social

capital

CO2 emission

s

Depression

Injuries

Osteoporosis

Slide courtesy of H. Frumkin

Hold On!There is a problem with this approach

Policies that promote healthy, low-carbon lifestyles are necessary, but insufficient.

These policies must be tied to evidence to support their continued use.

Enhanced Public Health Surveillance is Critical!

Central Texas Climate Change Environmental

Public Health Indicators Tracking Tool

Partnering with the City of Austin Climate Protection Program to create health indicators related to local Climate Change mitigation strategies

Priority Action: Inform Policy

Area with High Flash Flood Vulnerability containing an EPA Impaired Stream/Water body

Flash Flood Vulnerability Index overlaid onto EPA impaired streams.

Census Block Groups with Parks Where Trees Have Been Planted, High Surface Temperature and High Rates of 65+ Cardiovascular Mortality (1999-2005)

Park Plantings (1999-2003) overlaid onto Average Surface Temperature and Baseline Age Adjusted Cardiovascular Mortality Rate among the Elderly (65+) in Travis County, TX (1999- 2005)

Adaptation Strategies for Climate Change

Develop data-driven approaches that identify spatially-specific vulnerable populations and places

Enhance surveillance by integrating environmental, meteorological and health data

Identify co-benefits for health of mitigation and adaptation strategies

Re-Framing the Climate Change Dialogue

Thank You

Contact:George Luber, PhDAssociate Director for Global Climate ChangeNational Center for Environmental Health

gluber@cdc.govTel: 770-488-3429