Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 9.1
Infectious diseases likely to be introduced or reintroduced to a 1 4°C warmer
and institutionally stressed Australia, or have their current Australian rate
and range extended
Newly introduced
• Japanese encephalitis
• Chikungunya (may already be present; occurs in some Pacific Islands and
Southeast Asia)
• Cholera (?)
Re-introduced
• Tuberculosis (already present in some remote and disadvantaged Australian
communities, although not yet in multi-drug resistant form as occurs in some
neighbouring countries)
• Malaria (the anopheline mosquito vector species is present in northern Australia)
• Dengue (currently imported sporadically, but could become endemic)
Extension of, or change in, geographic range and seasonality
• Ross River virus
• Barmah Forest virus
• Murray Valley Encephalitis
• Gastroenteritis ('food/water poisoning'): salmonella, campylobacter, shigella
dysentery, others
• Bat-borne viral diseases, such as Hendra virus (likely, but bat response to warming
is uncertain)
Meanwhile, the small minority of infectious diseases that occur more often in
the winter than the summer months (such as rotaviral gastroenteritis and respir-
atory syncytial disease) will presumably recede at these higher temperatures.
Food yields, nutrition, health and survival
In different regions of the world, including the United States, Africa, India,
and Europe, nonlinear temperature effects have been found on important crops,
including maize, wheat, soya, and cassava … Under the SRES A1FI scenario,
which exceeds 4°C warming by 2100, yields are projected to decrease by 63 to
82 per cent. The potential for damages to crops because of pests and diseases plus
nonlinear temperature effects is likely to grow as the world warms toward 2°C
and above.
(World Bank, 2012, ix)
In Australia and overseas, climate change will fundamentally affect food yields
and quality, and where and how we produce food. Climatic conditions affect
 
 
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