Climate change: past and projected threats to food and water security = public health emergency

Abstract

Abstract Dr Liz Hanna chairs the Environmental Health Working Group of the WFPHA. For more than a decade she has researched climate change adaptation (CCA), focusing on exposure risks, physiological health impacts, health sector preparedness and policy responses to analyze current and future climate health threats. Working in Prof Tony McMichael's team at the Australian National University, she convened the National CCA Research Network, and served as President of the Climate and Health Alliance. Human history is littered with examples of climatic interruptions to food and water supplies leading to disease and famine, conflict and migration. Dr Hanna sets the scene for this challenging workshop by outlining selected historical examples and describing the pathways of interconnectedness. Previously, climatic, health and social upheavals were geographically restricted. Yet the world now faces climatic change on a global scale never before it witnessed by humans. Liz outlines how this global disruption threatens our most important environmental determinants of health. Evidence of global warming acceleration is presented and linked with disruptions to vital ecosystems and interruptions to food and water resources. Dr Hanna then leads participants on a journey to the future by applying IPCC projections to demonstrate the escalated potential for health harm from further intensified disturbances to the hydrological patterns, ocean warming, acidification and sea level rise, global heating and increased heat extremes as these impact water sources, crop yields, stock health and their survival, the marine food web and human acclimatisation limitations. Throughout this presentation, Dr Hanna weaves the interconnectedness of healthy ecosystems and healthy people, and our global interconnectedness as we collectively share this beautiful but fragile planet.