Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Assessing the Health Risks of Climate Change

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Global Climate Change and Public Health

Part of the book series: Respiratory Medicine ((RM,volume 7))

Abstract

Climate change challenges the assumptions underlying traditional risk assessment approaches for estimating the health risks of climate change, starting with the most basic assumption that a defined exposure to a particular agent causes a specific adverse health outcome. These and other challenges are discussed, followed by a description of the process used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to conduct assessments based on expert judgment evaluations of the literature combined with the collective experience and judgment of the authors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. IPCC Climate Change. Summary for policy makers. Cambridge: WMO/UNEP; 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  2. IPCC. Summary for policymakers. In: Field CB, Barros V, Stocker TF, Qin D, Dokken DJ, Ebi KL, Mastrandrea MD, Mach KJ, Plattner GK, Allen SK, Tignor M, Midgley PM, editors. Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation. A special report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2012. p. 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Confalonieri U, Menne B, Akhtar R, Ebi KL, Hauengue M, Kovats RS, Revich B, Woodward A. Human health. In: Parry ML, Canziani OF, Palutikof JP, van der Linden PJ, Hansson CE, editors. Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  4. McMichael AJ, Lindgren E. Climate change: present and future risks to health, and necessary responses. J Int Med. 2011;270:401–13.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Bradford-Hill A. The environment and disease: association or causation? Proc R Soc Med. 1965;58:295–300.

    Google Scholar 

  6. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Preamble. IARC monographs on the evaluation of carcinogenic risks to humans. Lyon, France: World Health Organization, IARC. http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Preamble/index.php (2006). Accessed 22 Apr 2012.

  7. National Research Council. Risk assessment in the Federal Government: managing the process. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  8. National Research Council Committee on Risk Assessment of Hazardous Air Pollutants. Science and judgment in risk assessment. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Bernard SM, Ebi KL. Comments on the process and product of the health impacts assessment component of the United States national assessment of the potential consequences of climate variability and change. Environ Health Perspect. 2001;109 Suppl 2:177–84.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Catalano R, Bruckner T, Smith KR. Ambient temperature predicts sex ratios and male longevity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2008;105:2244–7.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. McLaughlin JB, DePaola A, Bopp CA, Martinek KA, Napolilli NP, Allison CG, Murray SL, Thompson EC, Bird MM, Middaugh JP. Outbreak of Vibrio parahaemolyticus gastroenteritis associated with Alaskan oysters. N Engl J Med. 2005;353:1463–70.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. National Research Council. Under the weather: climate, ecosystems, and infectious diseases. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Thomson AJ. Climate indices, rainfall onset and retreat, and malaria in Nigeria. J Vector Borne Dis. 2010;47:193–203.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. IPCC. Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. In: Solomon S, Qin D, Manning M, Chen Z, Marquis MC, Averyt KB, Tignor M, Miller HL, editors. Contribution of Working Group I to the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Stott PA, Gillett NP, Hegerl GC, Karoly DJ, Stone DA, Zhang X, Zwiers F. Detection and attribution of climate change: a regional perspective. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Change. 2010;1:192–211.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Hegerl GC, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Casassa G, Hoerling MP, Kovats RS, Parmesan C, Pierce DW, Stott PA. Good practice guidance paper on detection and attribution related to anthropogenic climate change. In: Stocker TF, Field CB, Qin D, Barros V, Plattner G-K, Tignor M, Midgley PM, Ebi KL, editors. Meeting report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Expert Meeting on detection and attribution related to anthropogenic climate change. Bern, Switzerland: IPCC Working Group I Technical Support Unit, University of Bern; 2010. p. 1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Ebi KL, Kovats RL. Detection and attribution of health effects to global climate change. Environ Health Perspect. In: Abstracts of the 23rd annual conference of the international society of environmental epidemiology (ISEE), Barcelona, Spain, 13–16 Sep 2011. 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.isee2011. Accessed 25 Apr 2012.

  18. Cardona O-D, van Aalst MK, Birkmann J, Fordham M, McGregor G, Perez R, Pulwarty RS, Schipper ELF, Sinh BT. Determinants of risk: exposure and vulnerability. In: Field CB, Barros V, Stocker TF, Qin D, Dokken DJ, Ebi KL, Mastrandrea MD, Mach KJ, Plattner G-K, Allen SK, Tignor M, Midgley PM, editors. Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation. A special report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2012. p. 65–108.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Kovats RS, Hajat S. Heat stress and public health: a critical review. Annu Rev Public Health. 2008;29:41–55.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Rocklov J, Forsberg B, Meister K. Winter mortality modifies the heat-mortality association the following summer. Eur Respir J. 2009;33:245–51.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Parham PE, Michael E. Modeling climate change and malaria transmission. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2010;673:184–99.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. United Nations International Strategy on Disaster Reduction Secretariat. Global assessment report on disaster risk reduction. http://www.preventionweb.net/english/hyogo/gar/report/index.php?id=9413 (2009). Accessed 25 Apr 2012.

  23. Ebi KL. Public health responses to the risks of climate variability and change in the United States. J Occup Environ Med. 2009;51:4–12.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Parry M, Carter T. Climate impact and adaptation assessment: a guide to the IPCC approach. London: Earthscan Publications; 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  25. IPCC. Decisions taken with respect to the review of IPCC processes and procedures: procedures. IPCC 34th Session, 18–19 Nov 2011, Kampala, Uganda. http://ipcc.ch/pdf/ipcc-principles/appendix_a_decision.pdf (2011). Accessed 25 Apr 2012.

  26. InterAcademy Council. Climate change assessments, review of the processes and procedures of the IPCC. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: InterAcademy Council. http://reviewipcc.interacademycouncil.net/ (2010). Accessed 20 Apr 2012.

  27. Scheraga J, Ebi K, Moreno AR, Furlow J. From science to policy: developing responses to climate change. In: McMichael AJ, Campbell-Lendrum D, Corvalan CF, Ebi KL, Githeko A, Scheraga JD, Woodward A, editors. Climate change and human health: risks and responses. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO/WMO/UNEP; 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Mastrandrea MD, Field CB, Stocker TF, Edenhofer O, Ebi KL, Frame DJ, Held H, Kriegler E, Mach KJ, Matschoss PR, Plattner G-K, Yohe GW, Zwiers FW. Guidance note for lead authors of the IPCC fifth assessment report on consistent treatment of uncertainties. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). http://www.ipcc-wg2.gov/meetings/CGCs/index.html#UR (2010). Accessed 25 Apr 2012.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Stanford University, 424 Tyndall Street, Los Altos, CA, 94022, USA

    Kristie Ebi Ph.D., M.P.H.

Authors
  1. Kristie Ebi Ph.D., M.P.H.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kristie Ebi Ph.D., M.P.H. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. John Muir Institute of the Environment University of California, Dept. of Pediatrics, School of Medicine Center for Health & the Environment, Davis, California, USA

    Kent E. Pinkerton

  2. and Environmental Medicine New York University School of Medicine, Div. of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine; Depts. of Medicine,, New York, New York, USA

    William N. Rom

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ebi, K. (2014). Assessing the Health Risks of Climate Change. In: Pinkerton, K., Rom, W. (eds) Global Climate Change and Public Health. Respiratory Medicine, vol 7. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8417-2_18

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8417-2_18

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-8416-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-8417-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation