Human health in a changing climate : Santé et changements climatiques: évaluation des vulnérabilités et de la capacité d'adaptation au Canada

Human Health in a Changing Climate: A Canadian Assessment of Vulnerabilities and Adaptive Capacity i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Climate Change and Health Office at Health Canada gratefully acknowledges the contribution of the following people in providing guidance, reviewing chapters and providing written comments, and assisting in the coordination of activities that made this publication possible: Stee [...] The theme of World Health Day in 2008 is “Protecting Health from Climate Change”, which reminds us of the urgency of this issue and of the need to take necessary actions to protect those most vulnerable to the health impacts of climate change. [...] In planning this Assessment, Health Canada recognized the need to understand the significance of future climate scenarios and of global and local environmental change for the health of the population. [...] Therefore, the approach and scope of this initiative was intended to meet the following objectives: • develop a baseline of evidence concerning the relationship between a changing climate and direct and indirect impacts on health; • establish a framework for analyzing adaptive capacity and define the ability of selected populations to cope and adapt to specific impacts; • demonstrate the usefulnes [...] Chapter 6, Health Impacts of Climate Change in Quebec, and Chapter 7, Health Impacts of Climate Change in Canada’s North, are assessments of vulnerabilities to health in two regions of the country; both cover the full scope of the issues addressed in this Assessment.