Environmental health implications of global climate change
Abstract
This paper reviews the background that has led to the now almost-universally held opinion in the scientific community that global climate change is occurring and is inescapably linked with anthropogenic activity. The potential implications to human health are considerable and very diverse. These include, for example, the increased direct impacts of heat and of rises in sea level, exacerbated air and water-borne harmful agents, and--associated with all the preceding--the emergence of environmental refugees. Vector-borne diseases, in particular those associated with blood-sucking arthropods such as mosquitoes, may be significantly impacted, including redistribution of some of those diseases to areas not previously affected. Responses to possible impending environmental and public health crises must involve political and socio-economic considerations, adding even greater complexity to what is already a difficult challenge. In some areas, adjustments to national and international public health practices and policies may be effective, at least in the short and medium terms. But in others, more drastic measures will be required. Environmental monitoring, in its widest sense, will play a significant role in the future management of the problem.
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Anticipated effects of climate change upon human health can be considerable and diverse.
“Anticipated effects of climate change upon human health can be considerable and diverse [268]”
From North American Wetlands and Mosquito Control (2012) · cites this paper as [268]
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“Anticipated effects of climate change upon human health can be considerable and diverse [268], but our inability to estimate the nature, rate and extent of the”
Background
- Authors
- Watson, R. T., Patz, J., Gubler, D. J., Parson, E. A., & Vincent, J. H.
- Affiliations
- World Bank (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Corresponding author
- Vincent, James H.
- Venue
- Journal of Environmental Monitoring
- Publisher
- Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
- Published
- 2005
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 834
- ISSN
- 1464-0325 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-0333
- OpenAlex
- W2127167418
- Cited by
- 57
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 1.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Environmental Monitoring (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Climate Change and Health Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Public Health and Environmental Issues
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate Change and Environmental Impact
- Keywords
- climate change, anthropogenic climate change, environmental health, heat-related health impacts, sea level rise, air pollution, waterborne diseases, environmental refugees, vector-borne diseases, mosquito-borne diseases, public health policy, environmental monitoring
- MeSH terms
- Climate, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Pollution, Health Policy, Humans, Global Health, Risk Assessment
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