The health impacts of climate change - part 2/2 - by Professor Rao

Downstream• disruption of supply chains -> economic

instability and large-scale economic collapse

• disrupted banking and financial services.

• economic impact natural disasters have on the daily livelihoods of millions of people is not quantified

• any weakening of international financial systems and insurance markets will have serious effects on society.

IPCC, 2012

Monsoon Wager: Climate Change and the Indian Monsoon, Johnston P, Gopal V, www.greenpeaceindia.org/climate

Economic costs of climate change

• over 40% of all DALYs attributable to climate change are experienced in S Asia. This will increase

• costs include mitigation, adaptation, treating the health impacts

• a significant opportunity cost – Indonesia and India are currently two of the ten highest carbon emitters in the world

• China spends millions to address heatwaves in some regions, while other areas flood World Resources Institute, 2012, Padukone, 2010)

Other previously unanticipated risks include the flood risk to nuclear sites…

Climate change impacts on women’s health• “The gender inequalities that define women’s

lives prior to a climate disaster put them at greatly increased risk from climate change”

• In heat waves, who informs the women construction workers of the risks?

• Women and children 14 times more like to die than men in extreme weather events

• Experience the greatest food insecurity during drought, although they are the world’s major producers of staple crops

UNFPA & WEDO Report 2009 - Climate Connections Executive Summary. http://www.unfpa.org/public/publications/pid/4028 International union for Conservation of Nature – Gender and Climate Change. Gender and Climate Change Population Action International. http://www.populationaction.org/blog/2008/07/global-climate-change-what-doe.html Baruah, Bipasha(2010) 'Women and globalisation: challenges and opportunities facing construction workers in contemporary India', Development in Practice, 20: 1, 31 — 44

But women are vital for effective climate change action

– Women more likely to volunteer for disaster management projects and build and maintain social networks for community resilience

– A report on deforestation in 61 nations (1990-2005) found that countries with large and numerous women’s non-governmental organisations showed significantly lower levels of forest loss

– Responding to women’s unmet need for family planning may be less expensive than low-carbon energy development options and may contribute to a substantial reduction in carbon emissions

Source: UNFPA State of the World Population 2009. http://www.unfpa.org/swp/UNDP Millennium Development Goals Report 2009. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Pic from UNPFA State of the World Population 2009

Source: The Lancet and University college London, 2009. http//www.energybulletin.net/node/48953

World Maps showing distributions of Carbon Emissions and Burden of Mortality

Is climate change a serious threat to human health in the UK?

• The report – Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability – makes it clear that for the first half of this century countries such as the UK will avoid the worst impacts of climate change

Brisbane floods – up to the roof lineDavid Donovan. http://www.independentaustralia.net/2011/environment/weather/the-great-brisbane-flood-of-2011-the-hard-questions/Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire England, after the floods in July 2007. Photograph: Getty Images

It is the poor who are most vulnerable to climate change in every society

Oxfam International Rethinking disasters. 2008. Rethinking Disasters Cover Page

• 80 percent of the world’s refugees made up of women and children

• Hurricane Katrina 2005 - most victims trapped in New Orleans were African – American women with their children, the poorest population in that part of the country

Climate change action

• Is timid and inadequate in scale speed and scope

• But corporate, public and political attitudes and awareness shifting

• ‘Sustainability isn’t just about preserving icebergs, rainforests and charismatic megafauna. It is also about public health, community well-being, food security, affordable housing and alleviating poverty’

• Increasing recognition that climate change can no longer be ignored.

The public health community is very well placed to

• Help people know their climate facts

• Research the Government’s climate change policies and activities

• Help other workforces who need this expertise, starting with the health service

• Catalyse a whole systems approach to care for people, prosperity, planet

The best place to reflect on our obligation to act

To be the change we want to see we need to start acting in our own sphere of influence

We couldn’t be starting from a better place

We are in the presence of the most bountiful of the incarnations of Vishnu the Hindu god preserver