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Climate Change Adaptation: Priority Actions for Public Health . George Luber, PhD Associate Director for Climate Change Climate and Health Program National Center for Environmental Health. PHI Side Event at UN High Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases, New York, September 19, 2011. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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
[email protected]: 770-488-3429