Climate change
Stratospheric ozone
depletion
Human health
Land degradation
Biodiversity loss and ecosystem
function
Freshwater decline
Agroecosystem productivity
Water quality (safety) and quantity
Diverse pathways
Declines in phenotypic, genetic
materials and diverse goods
and services
Conflict
Altered
precipitation
Figure 1 Complex
interactions between the
biophysical environment
and human health
the combustion of fossil fuels causes local air pollution, regional acid rain, and
contributes to the global accumulation of carbon dioxide in the lower atmosphere.
There is a complex interaction between humans and the environment, with
consequences for human health (see Figure 1). These interactions are now
significantly affecting nature’s goods and services at all scales.
Biodiversity is being reduced at unprecedented speed; there is depletion of
non-replenishable resources and alteration of local, regional and global climatic
conditions. In recent decades there has been a growing recognition of these
changes, and in particular the ‘global environmental changes’ of damage to the
stratospheric ozone layer by the emission of ozone-destroying gaseous emissions
(especially chlorofluorocarbons — CFCs), and the accumulation of heat-trapping
greenhouse gases (GHG) in the lower atmosphere. These changes entail a range
of hazards to human population health, where the future impacts on health are
uncertain but predictable in general terms.
Here, we review these changes and their health impacts at the local, regional
and global scales. We begin with the familiar, mostly local, topics of local air
pollution and microbially contaminated water. We subsequently move to the
larger-scale, more contemporary issues of global environmental changes and
their associated risks to population health and to social-political security.
Air Pollution, Global and Regional – Respiratory and Other Adverse
Health Effects
Anthropogenic activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, have degraded
the quality of both indoor and outdoor air, with adverse health effects at all
F. S. Chapin III, E. S. Zavaleta, V. T. Eviner, R. L. Naylor, P. M. Vitousek, H. L. Reynolds, D. U.
Hooper, S. Lavorel, O. E. Sala, S. E. Hobbie, M. C. Mack and S. Dı´ az, Nature, 2000, 405, 234.
A. J. McMichael and A. Haines, Br. Med. J., 1997, 315, 805.
Global Environmental Changes and Human Health
141
Stratospheric ozone
depletion
Human health
Land degradation
Biodiversity loss and ecosystem
function
Freshwater decline
Agroecosystem productivity
Water quality (safety) and quantity
Diverse pathways
Declines in phenotypic, genetic
materials and diverse goods
and services
Conflict
Altered
precipitation
Figure 1 Complex
interactions between the
biophysical environment
and human health
the combustion of fossil fuels causes local air pollution, regional acid rain, and
contributes to the global accumulation of carbon dioxide in the lower atmosphere.
There is a complex interaction between humans and the environment, with
consequences for human health (see Figure 1). These interactions are now
significantly affecting nature’s goods and services at all scales.
Biodiversity is being reduced at unprecedented speed; there is depletion of
non-replenishable resources and alteration of local, regional and global climatic
conditions. In recent decades there has been a growing recognition of these
changes, and in particular the ‘global environmental changes’ of damage to the
stratospheric ozone layer by the emission of ozone-destroying gaseous emissions
(especially chlorofluorocarbons — CFCs), and the accumulation of heat-trapping
greenhouse gases (GHG) in the lower atmosphere. These changes entail a range
of hazards to human population health, where the future impacts on health are
uncertain but predictable in general terms.
Here, we review these changes and their health impacts at the local, regional
and global scales. We begin with the familiar, mostly local, topics of local air
pollution and microbially contaminated water. We subsequently move to the
larger-scale, more contemporary issues of global environmental changes and
their associated risks to population health and to social-political security.
Air Pollution, Global and Regional – Respiratory and Other Adverse
Health Effects
Anthropogenic activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, have degraded
the quality of both indoor and outdoor air, with adverse health effects at all
F. S. Chapin III, E. S. Zavaleta, V. T. Eviner, R. L. Naylor, P. M. Vitousek, H. L. Reynolds, D. U.
Hooper, S. Lavorel, O. E. Sala, S. E. Hobbie, M. C. Mack and S. Dı´ az, Nature, 2000, 405, 234.
A. J. McMichael and A. Haines, Br. Med. J., 1997, 315, 805.
Global Environmental Changes and Human Health
141