GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

AND ITS IMPACT ON

HUMAN HEALTH

A. Balasubramanian

Centre for Advanced Studies in Earth Science,

University of Mysore, Mysore-6

The IPCC Working groups on

Regional Climate Projections The IPCC Working groups on Regional

Climate Projections and their Use in Impacts and Risk Analysis Studies have formed the basis for all analyses.

The context and process of global climate change, its actual or likely impacts on health, and how human societies should respond to it is matter of serious concern to the whole world.

Global climate change would affect the human health through different pathways of varying complexity, scale and directness and with different timing.

Climate change

Climate change is both a development issue and an environmental issue.

Developing countries are more vulnerable to climate change than rich countries.

CC may be limited to a specific region, or it may occur across the whole Earth.

It can be caused by recurring and cyclical climate patterns.

The causes of climate change are many. There is a need to understand these

factors for reducing the effects.

We need to change the way we

interact with our environment There are lot of measures to be taken

up to combat the impacts of global

climate change, in the context of

human health related issues.

This paper highlights the effects of

Global Climate Change on human

health and the well-being of all life on

earth and the strategies to be adopted

to combat the effects on human

health.

Climatology Climatology is an important branch of earth and

atmospheric sciences.

It focuses on various aspects including the changes in global climate and their causative factors, their effects on the life and ecosystems and simulate the situations for future course of action and sustenance.

Climate change is both a development and an environmental issue.

Developing countries are more vulnerable to climate change than rich countries.

The poor people are expected to be the most at risk from the increased impacts of volatility extreme weather patterns (i.e., floods and droughts).

The effects of climate

change The effects of climate change are expected to

negatively impact the agricultural productivity throughout the tropics and sub-tropics.

Issues like decrease in water quantity and quality in most arid and semi-arid regions, increase in the incidence of malaria, dengue and other vector borne diseases in the tropics and sub-tropics, and the effects on the ecological systems and their biodiversity.

In addition, the sea level rise associated with expected increases in temperature could displace tens of millions of people living in low-lying areas and could threaten the very existence of small islands.

The world’s climate system

The world’s climate system is an integral part of this complex of life-supporting processes.

It is one of many large number of natural systems that are now coming under pressure from the increasing weight of human population and economic activities.

The context and process of global climate change, its actual or likely impacts on health, and how human societies should respond to it is matter of serious concern to the whole world.

This paper highlights the

effects of Global Climate

Change on human health and

the well-being of all life on

earth.

1. Climate change

Climate change is defined as a

change in the statistical distribution of

weather over periods of time that

range from decades to millions of

years.

It can be any change in the average

weather or a change in the distribution

of weather events around an average

(for example, greater or fewer extreme

weather events).

Climate change may be

limited

Climate change may be limited to a specific region, or it may occur across the whole Earth.

It can be caused by recurring, often cyclical climate patterns such as El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or come in the form of more isolated events such as the Dust Bowl.

Climate change is a long-term shift in weather conditions identified by changes in temperature, precipitation, winds, and other indicators.

Changes in average conditions

and changes in variability Global Climate Change can involve both

changes in average conditions and changes in variability, including, for example, extreme events.

Effects of global climate change are significant additions to the spectrum of environmental health hazards faced by humankind and other life on earth.

The longevity of populations depends on the continued stability and functioning of the biosphere’s ecological and physical systems.

These are often referred to as life-support systems.

Traditionally, environmental health concerns long have been focused on toxicological or microbiological risks to from local environmental exposures.

In addition to global climate change, these include: the health risks posed by stratospheric ozone depletion; loss of biodiversity; stresses on terrestrial and ocean food-producing systems; changes in hydrological systems and the supplies of freshwater; and the global dissemination of persistent organic pollutants.

Change in world climate would influence the

functioning of many ecosystem

Change in world climate would influence the functioning of many ecosystems and the biological health of plants and creatures.

Likewise, there would be health impacts on human populations too.

Countless climatic disasters befell communities and populations around the world, leading to starvation, infectious disease, social collapse and the disappearance of whole populations.

Different pathways of varying

complexity Global climate change would affect the

human health through different pathways of varying complexity, scale and directness and with different timing( Kinney, P. L., 2008 & 2012).

As the climate changes, we need to change the way we interact with our environment.

There are lots of measures to be taken up to combat the impacts of global climate change, in the context of human health related issues.

2. Causes of Climate

change: The earth's climate is naturally variable

on all time scales. Any factor that causes a sustained

change to the amount of incoming energy or the amount of outgoing energy can lead to climate change.

As these factors are external to the climate system, they are referred to as ‘climate forcers', invoking the idea that they force or push the climate towards a new long-term state – either warmer or cooler depending on the cause of change.

Different factors operate on

different time scales Not all of those factors that have been

responsible for changes in earth's

climate in the distant past are relevant

to contemporary climate change.

The dominant factors that cause

climate change can be divided into

two categories - those related to

natural processes and those related to

human activity.

In addition to the natural causes of

climate change, the changes internal

to the climate system, such as

variations in ocean currents or

atmospheric circulation, can also

influence the climate for short periods

of time.

This natural internal climate variability

is superimposed on the long-term

forced climate change.

2.1 Natural Causes:

The Earth's climate can be affected by natural factors that are external to the climate system.

The major factors are such as changes in volcanic activity, solar output, and the Earth's orbit around the Sun.

Of these, the two factors relevant on timescales of contemporary climate change are changes in volcanic activity and changes in solar radiation.

2.2 Human Causes:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) working groups gave their Second Assessment Report in 1996 which concluded as , “the balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate”.

The Climate change can also be caused by human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels and the conversion of land for forestry and agriculture.

The dominant product of fossil fuel combustion is carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

TIME SERIES: 1884 TO 2015

Data source: NASA/GISS

Credit: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio

The overall effect of human

activities The overall effect of human activities

since the Industrial Revolution has

been a warming effect, driven

primarily by emissions of carbon

dioxide and enhanced by emissions of

other greenhouse gases.

The build-up of greenhouse gases in

the atmosphere has led to an

enhancement of the

natural greenhouse effect.

2.3 Short-lived and long-lived

climate forcers: Carbon dioxide is the main cause of

human-induced climate change. it continues to affect the climate system

during its long residence time in the atmosphere.

However, fossil fuel combustion, industrial processes, agriculture, and forestry-related activities emit other substances that also act as climate forcers.

Some, such as nitrous oxide, are long-lived greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, and so contribute to long-term climate change.

Other substances have shorter

atmospheric lifetime Other substances have shorter atmospheric

lifetimes because they are removed fairly quickly from the atmosphere.

Therefore, their effect on the climate system is similarly short-lived.

Together, these short-lived climate forcers are responsible for a significant amount of current climate forcing from anthropogenic substances.

Some short-lived climate forcers have a climate warming effect which are called as ‘positive climate forcers', while others have a cooling effect are called as ‘negative climate forcers'.

Other short-lived climate forcers

Other short-lived climate forcers have

climate cooling effects, most notably

sulphate aerosols.

Fossil fuel combustion emits sulphur

dioxide into the atmosphere (in

addition to carbon dioxide) which then

combines with water vapour to form

tiny droplets (aerosols) which reflect

sunlight.

Sulphate aerosols

Sulphate aerosols remain in the

atmosphere for only a few days

(washing out in what is referred to as

acid rain), and so do not have the

same long-term effect as greenhouse

gases.

The cooling from sulphate aerosols in

the atmosphere has, however, offset

some of the warming from other

substances.

3.0 Observed impacts

The IPCC Workshop on Regional Climate Projections and their Use in Impacts and Risk Analysis Studies( Report of 2015) states that theregional climate change projections provide the quantitative basis for studies of projected impacts from climate change and associated risks, which are essential building blocks for the comprehensive assessment of future climate change studies and actions.

According to the IPCC's most recent assessment of climate

change ( Assessment Reports, from 2007 to 2015 ), observed

changes that are thought to be due to climate change include:

Rising sea level and decreases in snow and ice extent.

Changes in rain and snowfall (i.e. precipitation) patterns. Limited evidence of an increase in intense tropical cyclone activity since about 1970. Changes in snow, ice and frozen ground have increased the number and size of glacial lakes, increased ground instability in mountain and other permafrost regions and led to changes in some Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems.

Some rivers, lakes, streams have also been affected through increased runoff and earlier spring peak discharge in many glacier- and snow-fed rivers.

Changes ..

Changes in water quality of warming rivers and lakes has been observed. In terrestrial ecosystems, earlier timing of spring events and shifts in plant and animal ranges (towards the poles and towards higher altitudes).

In some marine and freshwater systems, shifts in ranges and changes in algal, plankton and fish abundance.

Changes in ice cover, salinity (salt concentrations) and oxygen levels.

Other changes include agricultural and forestry management -more forest fires and outbreaks of forest pests.

Several aspects of human health, such as heat-related deaths, changes in infectious disease-carrying organisms in some areas, and allergy-causing pollen.

The World Health Organisation

(WHO) estimates

The World Health Organisation (WHO)

estimates that the warming and

precipitation trends due to

anthropogenic climate change of the

past 30 years have shown that it

claims over 150,000 lives every year.

Many prevalent human

diseases are linked to climate fluctuations,

from cardiovascular mortality and

respiratory illnesses due to heat

waves,

to altered transmission of infectious

diseases and

malnutrition from crop failures.

Uncertainty remains

Uncertainty remains in attributing the

expansion or resurgence of diseases to

climate change, owing to lack of long-

term, high-quality data sets as well as

the large influence of socio-economic

factors and changes in immunity and

drug resistance.

In this analysis, much of the findings and

projections made by the IPCC are

presented for public concern and further

action.

IPCC SRES (Special Report on

Emissions Scenarios - SRES)

scenarios

IPCC SRES (Special Report on Emissions Scenarios - SRES) scenarios were constructed to explore future developments in the global environment with special reference to the production of greenhouse gases and aerosol precursor emissions.

The IPCC SRES scenarios contain various driving forces of climate change, including population growth and socio-economic development.

The SRES team defined four narrative storylines (see Figure 1), labeled A1, A2, B1 and B2, describing the relationships between the forces driving greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions and their evolution during the 21st century for large world regions and globally. Each storyline represents different demographic, social, economic, technological, and environmental developments that diverge in increasingly irreversible ways.

A1: globalization, emphasis on human wealth Globalized, intensive (market forces)The A1 storyline and scenario family describes a future world of very rapid economic growth, global population that peaks in mid-century and declines thereafter, and the rapid introduction of new and more efficient technologies. Major underlying themes are convergence among regions, capacity building, and increased cultural and social interactions, with a substantial reduction in regional differences in per capita income.

The A1 scenario family develops into three groups that describe alternative directions of technological change in the energy system. The three A1 groups are distinguished by their technological emphasis: fossil intensive (A1FI), non-fossil energy sources (A1T), or a balance across all sources.

A2: regionalization, emphasis on human wealth Regional, intensive (clash of civilizations)The A2 storyline and scenario family describes a very heterogeneous world. The underlying theme is self-reliance and preservation of local identities. Fertility patterns across regions converge very slowly, which results in continuously increasing global population. Economic development is primarily regionally oriented and per capita economic growth and technological change are more fragmented and slower than in other storylines.

B1: globalization, emphasis on sustainability and equity Globalized, extensive (sustainable development)

The B1 storyline and scenario family describes a convergent world with the same global population that peaks in midcentury and declines thereafter, as in the A1 storyline, but with rapid changes in economic structures toward a service and information economy, with reductions in material intensity, and the introduction of clean and resource-efficient technologies.

The emphasis is on global solutions to economic, social, and environmental sustainability, including improved equity, but without additional climate initiatives.

B2: regionalization, emphasis on sustainability and equity Regional, extensive (mixed green bag)The B2 storyline and scenario family describes a world in which the emphasis is on local solutions to economic, social, and environmental sustainability.

It is a world with continuously increasing global population at a rate lower than A2, intermediate levels of economic development, and less rapid and more diverse technological change than in the B1 and A1 storylines.

While the scenario is also oriented toward environmental protection and social equity, it focuses on local and regional levels.

Structure used for evolving

impact Scenarios

This Figure shows Population projections - historical data from 1900 to 1990 (based on Durand, 1967; Demeny; 1990; UN, 1998), and SRES scenarios (based on Lutz, 1996, for high and low, and UN, 1998, for medium) and IPCC IS92 scenarios (Leggett et al., 1992; Pepper et al., 1992) from 1990 to 2100.

This Figure summarizes the global primary energy structure, shares (%) of oil and gas, coal, and non-fossil (zero-carbon) energy sources - historical development from 1850 to 1990 and in SRES scenarios. Each corner of the triangle corresponds to a hypothetical situation in which all primary energy is supplied by a single source - oil and gas on the top, coal to the left, and non-fossil sources (renewables and nuclear) to the right.

This Figure shows global land-use patterns, shares (%) of croplands and energy biomass, forests, and other categories including grasslands - historical development from 1970 to 1990 (based on B1-IMAGE) and in SRES scenarios

3.1 Direct Impacts on Human

HealthThe more direct impacts on health include

those due to

(1) changes in exposure to weather extremes (heatwaves, winter cold);

(2) increases in other extreme weather events (floods, cyclones, storm-surges, droughts); and

(3) increased production of certain air pollutants and aeroallergens (spores and moulds).

(4) Decreases in winter mortality due to milder winters may compensate for increases in summer mortality due to the increased frequency of heatwaves.

Climate change, acting via less direct mechanisms,

would affect the transmission of many infectious

diseases

Climate change, acting via less direct mechanisms, would affect the transmission of many infectious diseases (especially water, food and vector-borne diseases) and regional food productivity (especially cereal grains).

For vector-borne infections, the distribution and abundance of vector organisms and intermediate hosts are affected by various physical (temperature, precipitation, humidity, surface water and wind) and biotic factors (vegetation, host species, predators, competitors, parasites and human interventions).

Various integrated modelling

studies Various integrated modelling studies have been carried

out to forecast the effects.

It has been found that an increase in ambient temperature would cause, worldwide, net increases in the geographical distribution of particular vector organisms (e.g. malarial mosquitoes) although some localized decreases also might occur.

In addition, the temperature related changes in the life-cycle dynamics of both the vector species and the pathogenic organisms (flukes, protozoa, bacteria and viruses) would increase the potential transmission of many vector-borne diseases such as malaria (mosquito), dengue fever (mosquito) and leishmaniasis(sand-fly)—although schistosomiasis (water-snail) may undergo a net decrease in response to climate change.

The major and distinct impacts

are1) Direct Temperature Effects,

2) Extreme events,

3) Climate-Sensitive Diseases,

4) Air Quality and

5) Other Health Linkages .

Influences of anthropogenic and

oceanic forcing on recent climate

change have been highlighted by

several workers.

The major five critical health

issues identified are: Heat-related illness and death

Health effects related to extreme

weather events

Health effects related to air pollution

Water-borne and food-borne diseases

Vector-borne and rodent-borne

diseases.

The vulnerable target populations

expected to be affected are:

Elderly- aging and chronic illness

Children- behavioral, susceptibility to

illness

Low-income individuals- poverty is a

risk factor

Immuno-compromised individuals-

water-borne, vector-borne.

3.2 Heat-Related Illnesses and

Death Due to global climate change, more frequent heat

waves are expected to occur in many countries.

Because the elderly are the most susceptible to dying from extreme heat, these heat waves pose particular risks to many old age population.

People are likely to experience the greatest number of heat-related deaths and illnesses, which include heat cramps, fainting, heat exhaustion, and stroke.

Within heat-sensitive regions, urban areas are the most vulnerable and the threat is intensified by the absence of nighttime heat relief.

Milder winters could potentially reduce the current level of winter deaths.

In general, however, more research is needed to understand the relationship between temperature and winter deaths.

3.2 Health Effects Related to

Extreme Weather Events Changes in the frequency, timing, intensity, and duration of

extreme weather events, such as floods and storms, could have negative health impacts in some countries.

Potential effects from weather disasters range from acute trauma and drowning to conditions of unsafe water and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The health impacts of floods, storms, and other extreme weather events.

These will affect on the natural environment and the local population.

The location of high-risk areas are coasts and floodplains.

All government agencies and non-governmental organizations should engage in disaster planning, early warning, and response.

Climate change and vulnerability also need to have increased vigilance.

3.3 Health Effects due to Air

Pollution Climate change may affect exposure to air

pollutants.

It can influence the local weather, changing the distribution and types of airborne allergens.

It also will increase both human-driven and natural emissions.

Warmer and more variable weather may cause increases in ground-level ozone.

These increases could intensify respiratory diseases by damaging lung tissue, reducing lung function, and sensitizing the respiratory tract to other irritants.

More air conditioning use due to warmer temperatures could cause an increase in potentially harmful power plant emissions.

Exposure to particulate matter from these and other combustion-related sources can aggravate chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, alter host defenses, damage lung tissue, lead to premature death, and possibly contribute to cancer.

In addition, changes in green plant distribution or pollen production could affect the timing and/or duration of hay fever and other seasonal allergies.

3.4 Water-Borne and Food-

Borne Diseases Climate change and weather variability may pose

threats for water-borne diseases, some food-borne diseases, and marine and coastal issues, including harmful algal blooms and ecological disruption.

Changes in precipitation, temperature, humidity, salinity, and wind have a measurable effect on the quality of water used for drinking, recreation, and commerce.

Heavy rainfall has been associated with water-borne disease outbreaks in many countries.

Temperature also influences the occurrence of bacterial agents, toxic algal blooms (red tides), and survival of viral pathogens that cause shellfish poisoning.

Deficiencies in watershed protection and storm drainage systems can increase the risk of contamination events if rainfall increases as projected with climate change.

Climate change clearly has

health impacts Climate change clearly has health impacts which are mostly

related to water.

Health hazards may be caused by extreme temperatures, an increase in water temperature, water scarcity, and chemical and biological contamination of water used for different purposes (including food production and processing).

Increasing water scarcity may limit access to water for drinking water and sanitation, increase the concentration of pollutants, reduce the self-cleaning capacity of sewers and limit the ability of natural ecosystems to assimilate wastes.

Flooding may cause contamination and, especially in large cities, storm-water overflows and pollution.

In poor and rural areas, environmental health hazards are often even more significant, as water supply and sanitation infrastructure is lacking, in a bad state, or because small service suppliers cannot cope with adverse weather conditions.

3.5 Vector-Borne and Rodent-

Borne Diseases Vector-borne diseases result from infections

transmitted to humans and other animals by blood-feeding insects, such as mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas.

Most vector-borne diseases exhibit a distinct seasonal pattern, which clearly suggests that they are weather sensitive.

Rodent-borne diseases are less directly affected by temperature.

However, the impact of weather on disease-carrying rodent populations (for example, increased food supply or exposure during flooding) can affect transmission of diseases such as hantavirus and flea-borne plague.

In general, disease transmission by insects and rodents is a complex process and unique for each disease.

Population characteristics, human behavior, and ecological factors play a critical role in determining when and where disease occurs, which makes it unlikely that increasing temperatures alone will have a major impact on tropical diseases.

There is even greater uncertainty regarding diseases that cycle through animals and can also infect humans, such as Lyme disease and mosquito-carried encephalitis viruses.

4.0 Research Areas

A lot of research is expected to be

carried out on the impact assessment

of global climate changes.

The following are the research areas

(Table.1 )were among those identified

as priorities by the expert health

assessment team of IPCC:

Table.1 Research areas of health risk

assessments1. Research areas on heat-

related illness and death

• Improved prediction, warning, and response systems

• Relationship of weather to influenza and other causes of

winter mortality

• Techniques to enhance urban design and energy systems

1. Research areas on health

impacts from extreme

weather events

• Improved surveillance for long-term health effects from

stormsTechniques to enhance prediction, warning, and

response

• Investigation of past impacts and effectiveness of warnings

1. Research areas on air

pollution-related health

effects

• Relationship between weather and air pollution

concentrations

• Relationships between exposure patterns and health effects

• Effect of weather on vegetative emissions and allergens

(such as pollen)

1. Research areas on water-

borne and food-borne

diseases

• Improved monitoring of weather/ecological effects on

marine-related disease

• Impacts of land use and agriculture on water quality

• Enhanced monitoring and mapping of the movement of

contaminants in surface water

• and groundwater, combined with improved monitoring for

human disease.

1. Research areas on vector-

borne and rodent-borne

diseases

• Improved rapid diagnostic tests, especially in the field

• Enhanced disease surveillance strategies

• Linkages between climate, altered ecology, and infectious

disease transmission.

4.1 Climate Risk Management

and Health

The International Research Institute for Climate and Society of Columbia University has carried out some detailed analysis.

It has been reported that malnutrition and infectious diseases may kill more than 15 million people and will sicken tens of millions more, mostly in developing regions of the world in a decade.

This will have devastating and lasting effects on societies and their economies because people become too sick to work, attend school or care for their children.

It is also to be noted that many of these diseases are climate-sensitive, occurring only in places or times of year when conditions are suitable for transmission.

By having a scientific understanding of

how climate information can be used

to predict disease dynamics, health

officials and decision makers can

target interventions in a more

appropriate and timely way and use

scarce resources more intelligently

and preemptively.

It is alarming to see that more than

124 million Africans live in areas prone

to malaria epidemics.

The epidemics occur when environmental conditions such as temperature, rainfall and humidity become favorable for transmission.

But malaria, along with cholera, meningitis and dengue fever, are only a few of the 14 communicable diseases recently identified as being climate-sensitive by the World Health Organization.

It is necessary to adopt certain important strategies to control the health effects of climate change.

The Table.2 shows the identified strategies for future implementation.

Table. 2. Strategies to combat the health-

related issues of Global Climate change.

1. Heat-Related

Illnesses and Death

• individual behavioral changes, including increased fluid intake and increased use of air conditioning.

• development of community-wide heat emergency plans.

1. Health Effects

Related to Extreme

Weather Events

• Continued refinements to public early warning systems

• Improved engineering for flood control• Enhanced zoning and building codes.

1. Air Pollution-Related

Health Effects

• Improved early warning systems for air quality• Increased use of mass transit• Better urban planning• Improved pollution control policies

1. Water-Borne and

Food-Borne Diseases

• Improved surveillance for infectious diseases• Enhanced water systems and improved water

systems engineering• Watershed protection policies.

1. Vector-Borne and

Rodent-Borne

Diseases

• Improved disease surveillance• Enhanced insect-control programs• Vaccine development and improved protections

for travelers to disease endemic areas.

4.2 Recommendations for further studies

1. Expertise from many disciplines is required to solve these important issues

related to climate change. Some of the major implementation strategies are as

follows:

2. Early Warning Systems: This are required for Malaria and other Climate

Sensitive Diseases. Disease distribution and seasonality are closely related to

seasonal characteristics of the climate. Online mapping products should be

made freely accessible on Data Libraries, to illustrate models of climate

suitability for seasonal endemic diseases like malaria and recent climate

conditions.

3. Risk mapping: Risk models, created with field epidemiological and

environmental data, will provide us with much-needed tools for assessing health

risks. Dynamic maps and tools can reflect seasonal changes in ground

conditions, permitting decision makers to adapt strategies and responses that

are needed.

4. More Sustainable development Research activities: These can bring out

the best science to manage the climate related risks in various sectors and bring

out better systems in agriculture, food security, water resources, and health.

5. Regional assessments of health impacts, through modeling methods:

Moving from large-scale climate projections to smaller spatial scales requires

the application of ‘downscaling’ techniques that bring additional information to

bear on the region in question. Downscaling methods fall into two broad

categories: dynamical downscaling, using high-resolution, regional climate

models, and statistical downscaling, based on statistical relationships between

Recommendations for further

studies6. More studies in Health and regional climate change: Two main

climatic impacts on health at a regional scale emerge as direct heat-related mortality and morbidity, and a climate-mediated change in the incidence of infectious diseases. Studies of climatic influences on infectious diseases have to be focused. Dengue fever, diarrhoeal diseases (food and water borne) and nutrition-related illnesses were all shown to be linked to climate and have the potential to worsen with increasing climate change and variability.

7. Climate sensitive health risks/CSD reporting systems: Theseare to be done with prediction modeling. Exposure distribution and exposure-response relationship.

8. Continuous research on Land use and land cover change. These changes can magnify the effects of extreme climatic events, both on direct health outcomes (for example, heat mortality), and on ecologically mediated infectious diseases in any region of the world. Therefore, to assess accurately future climate-change impacts on health, future projections of land-use change must be considered. Investigation of exposure-response relationships from a wider climatic and socioeconomic development could improve the accuracy of estimations.

Recommendations for further

studies10. Promote awareness groups to stop some human

activities: Major environmental, occupational, behavioural and lifestyle risk factors are to be considered including: smoking, alcohol consumption, unsafe sex, diet, air pollution, water and sanitation, and climate change.

11. Research on Malnutrition issues - Malnutrition is considered as the single most important risk factor to global health. While multiple biological and social factors affect the influence of malnutrition, the fundamental determinant is the availability of staple foods.

12. Studies on longer-term Human survival and health effects: These are needed particularly for those resulting from population displacement or drought periods and their effects on food production.

5.0 Conclusion

Throughout the world, the prevalence of some diseases and other threats to human health depend largely on local climate.

Extreme temperatures can lead directly to loss of life, while climate-related disturbances in ecological systems, such as changes in the range of infective parasites, can indirectly impact the incidence of serious infectious diseases. In addition, warm temperatures can increase air and water pollution, which in turn harm human health.

Human health is strongly affected by social, political, economic, environmental and technological factors, including urbanization, affluence, scientific developments, individual behavior and individual vulnerability (e.g., genetic makeup, nutritional status, emotional well-being, age, gender and economic status).

Conclusion ……

The extent and nature of climate change impacts on human health vary by region, by relative vulnerability of population groups, by the extent and duration of exposure to climate change itself and by society’s ability to adapt to or cope with the change.

Human beings are exposed to climate change directly through changing weather patterns (for example, more intense and frequent extreme events) and indirectly through changes in water, air, food quality and quantity, ecosystems, agriculture, and economy.

Given the complexity of factors that influence human health, assessing health impacts related to climate change poses a difficult challenge. It is necessary to combat the impacts of Global Climate Change through various strategies as highlighted in this work.

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IPCC Workshop on Regional Climate Projections and their Use in Impacts and Risk Analysis Studies, São José dos Campos, Brazil, 15-18 September 2015

IPCC Expert Meeting on Climate Change, Food, and Agriculture, Dublin, Ireland, 27-29 May 2015

Joint WCRP/IPCC Workshop on IPCC AR5: Lessons Learnt for Climate Change Research and WCRP, Bern, Switzerland, 8-10 September 2014

IPCC Expert Meeting on Geoengineering, Lima, Peru, 20-22 June 2011

IPCC Workshop on Ocean Acidification on Marine Biology and Ecosystems, Bankoku Shinryokan, Okinawa, Japan, 17-19 January 2011

IPCC Workshop Meeting on Sea Level Rise and Ice Sheet Instabilities, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 21-24 June 2010

IPCC Expert Meeting on Assessing and Combining Multi Model Climate Projections Boulder, Colorado, USA, 25-27 January 2010

IPCC Expert Meeting on Detection and Attribution Related to Anthropogenic Climate Change, Geneva, Switzerland, 14-16 September 2009

IPCC Expert Meeting Report - Towards New Scenarios for Analysis of Emissions, Climate Change, Impacts, and Response Strategies, Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, 19-21 September 2007

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CSD: Commission on Sustainable Development.

Mind map art

Arkansas Farmers

Scottish Govt study

USEPA

USEPA

Intergovernmental Panel on

CC

ANU- Australian nat. Univ.

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