Climate Change & Health – Part 2
Extreme Weather Events
The direct effects of extreme weather events include drowning from floods, injuries from floods, and structural collapse. Indirect effects outnumber the direct effects and likely will be more costly.
Climate change will increase the likelihood of extreme weather events like floods and increase the burden on human health.
Potential indirect effects include aggravation of chronic diseases due to interruptions in health care service, significant mental health concerns both from interrupted care and geographic displacement, and socioeconomic disruption resulting from population displacement and infrastructure loss.
Sea level rise increases the risk from extreme weather events in coastal areas, threatening critical infrastructure and worsening immediate and chronic health effects. Salt-water entering freshwater drinking supplies is also a concern for these regions, and increased salt content in soil can hinder agricultural activity in coastal areas.
Other indirect exposures and health effects
Climate change is a complex phenomenon and a range of unanticipated ecological effects will result. Many of these ecosystem effects could have indirect health effects.
Increased concentrations of ground-level carbon dioxide and longer growing seasons could result in higher pollen production, worsening allergic and respiratory disease.
Increased carbon dioxide concentrations in sea water are causing oceans to grow more acidic and are already causing adverse ecosystem changes in the world’s oceans. This will have potentially dramatic implications for fisheries and the food supply in certain regions of the world.
Major regional ecosystem stresses may result in mass population movement and conflict, with significant health effects. Some of these concerns are low-probability high-impact events, and could have significant health impacts on a global scale.
Related posts:
- Climate Change & Health – Part 1 Weather and climate have affected human health for millennia. Now, climate change is altering weather and climate patterns that previously have been relatively stable. Climate...
- Climate Change & Health – Mental Health Effects Climate change is likely to affect mental health in several ways. Climate change is associated with increasingly frequent and severe weather events, which cause extensive...
- Coordinated response needed to manage the health threats of climate change Published on the AMA website 29 July 2010: AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said that Australia needs a National Strategy for Climate Change and Health...
- Specific Health Effects of Climate Change – Part 1 Aero-allergens Increased ambient temperatures over land and increased ground-level carbon dioxide concentrations, both of which are expected with climate change, result in increased plant metabolism...
- Specific Health Effects of Climate Change – Part 2 Air Quality and Respiratory Disease Air quality is highly affected by weather and climate conditions. In turn, certain aspects of air quality are known to...
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