Climate change & human health : Climate change and human health : position paper and resolution

The impacts of climate change are expected to be experienced most harshly in poorer areas of the world, while the heaviest emitters of greenhouse gases are those who live in richer areas of the world. [...] In its third assessment report, the IPCC concluded that: “Most of the observed warming over the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations;” and “Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) due to fossil fuel burning are virtually certain to be the dominant influence on the trends in atmospheric CO2 concentrations during the 21st century” (IPCC, 2001b). [...] When the U. S. National Research Council (NRC) examined the science on climate change in response to a request from the White House, it concluded that: “The IPCC’s conclusion that most of the observed warming of the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations accurately reflects the thinking of the scientific community on the issue” (NRC, 2001). [...] In Canada, global climate change is expected to: #" Move the treeline significantly northward during this century; #" Increase the number and severity of forest fires; #" Affect the abundance of fish species by changing water temperatures and circulation patterns; #" Melt permafrost in the far north; #" Decrease water levels in the Great Lakes by more than a metre and move the shoreline of Lake St [...] While there are great uncertainties related to the extent and severity of the predicted health impacts, there is a growing consensus that many of the anticipated adverse effects will be greater in poorer regions of the world that lack food supplies and/or well developed public health infrastructures with which to respond to the changes (IPCC, 2001; NRC, 2001).