Climate change and health - IPCC Report

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change brought out its Fifth Assessment Report today.  The IPCC is the international body for assessing the science related to climate change and was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to provide policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks.

The human health chapter in the second (“Impacts”) volume of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report concludes that the impact of climate change on our health is increasing significantly.  In the next few decades, the largest impacts will occur in poorer and vulnerable populations and communities where illnesses such as under-nutrition and diarrhoeal disease are already high – thus widening further the world’s health disparities.  A good summary of the health impacts described by the report can be found in The Conversation today, Climate change and health:  IPCC reports emerging risks, emerging consensus.