Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
animal species. Hence we should expect
to be a less sensitive
early-responder species. Further, there is no simple description of the
current and potential future health impacts of climate change. Not only will
climate change induce different types of environmental and ecological
changes in different geographical regions, but also the vulnerability of
human populations varies - as a function of locality, level of material
resources, technological assets and type of governance.
There is a wide range of expected health impacts of climate change
(McMichael
Homo sapiens
2003). These do not entail novel processes and unfamiliar
health outcomes. Rather, they entail climate-induced changes in the fre-
quency or severity of familiar health risks - such as floods, storms and fires;
the mortality toll of heatwaves; the range and seasonality of infectious dis-
eases; the productivity of local agro-ecosystems; the health consequences of
altered freshwater supplies; and the many repercussions of economic dislo-
cation and population displacement. Most of the expected health impacts
will be adverse; a few will be beneficial.
There is already some suggestive evidence that climate change is affecting
particular health outcomes. Some vector-borne infectious diseases - such as
tick-borne encephalitis in Scandinavia, and malaria and perhaps dengue
fever in tropical and subtropical regions - have increased their geographic
range or seasonality in ways that accord with the observed changes in cli-
matic conditions over the past two decades. Cereal grain yields have become
a little more unstable during the late 1990s and into this decade, initially dis-
playing increased inter-annual variability and having declined monotoni-
cally over the past six to seven years. Could this be, at least partly, due to
changing climatic conditions? Extreme weather events appear to have
increased in tempo during the 1990s, with predictable impacts on human
life and limb. Several small island states are experiencing growing concern
about sea-level rise. Even at this early stage, such concern may be jeopardis-
ing inhabitants' well-being and mental health.
et al.
A paradox?
There seems to be a paradox in this current human-environment relation-
ship. If environmental conditions and ecological systems are important to
human well-being and health, how can the world's environmental indicators
be declining while life expectancy is rising? Further, is it true that the
unplanned, rapid growth of most of the world's cities entails a loss of social
