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2.4 Climate Change and Physical Health
Climate is an inherent part of the natural systems that are associated with both biodiversity and physical health. Therefore, climate change is similarly interconnected
with the processes discussed in the previous two sections, particularly in the context
of rapid changes that go beyond the pace of autonomous adaptive capacity and in
the context of other drivers of change, such as urbanisation (Fisher et al. 2017).
Climate change has direct and indirect influences on the underlying mechanisms of
processes discussed in the previous sections. Direct impacts on human health
include, for example, the influence of higher temperatures on heat stress in urban
dwellers. Indirect impacts include how climate change affects evaporative cooling
in urban areas through which people’s exposure to high temperature events may be
reduced. In this section, we consider the ways in which climate change affects physical health and the role of the natural environment, both generally and through biodiversity. Since biodiversity is also affected by climate change, the section ends
with an assessment of climate impacts on the biosphere, particularly in terms of the
functions and processes identified in the previous sections as being important for
human health.
There are numerous reviews of the deleterious effects of accelerated anthropogenic climate change on natural systems and on human health, as well as those that
point to some of the possible benefits. Reviews include the following direct/indirect
and primary/secondary pathways (LWEC 2015; European Environment Agency
2017; Fig. 2.5).
• Health effects of heat and heat waves
Heat-waves are estimated to have resulted in cumulative death rates of 129.0
people per million in Europe between 1991 and 2015, 24 times higher than the next
highest most severe extreme weather-related hazards in terms of death rates (which
are cold- and flood-related events at 5.3 and 6.4 people per million respectively; European Environment Agency 2017). Heat-waves are well known to be
associated with excess deaths particularly in older people, people with pre-existing
health problems and people living in urban areas, for example based on analyses of
the 2003 European heat-wave (Johnson et al. 2004; Grize et al. 2005; Poumadere
et al. 2005). Excess death rates have also been recorded in cities across the world,
e.g. in Chicago, Melbourne and Moscow, including cities with populations already
adapted to relatively high temperatures (Norton et al. 2015; Burkart et al. 2014).
Evidence from the UK suggests that cardiovascular causes result in the larger number of deaths, though tending to be more associated with atrial fibrillation or pulmonary heart disease compared to other heart diseases. Furthermore, excessive heat
seems to be most strongly associated with causes of deaths related to the endocrine,
nervous and urinary/renal systems (Arbuthnott and Hajat 2017). People with dementia and on some prescribed medications may also be susceptible to heat-related
hospitalisation and mortality, possibly due to higher potential for dehydration and/
or reduced ability to sweat (Stollberger et al. 2009). The frequency and severity
2 Biodiversity, Physical Health and Climate Change: A Synthesis of Recent Evidence
2.4 Climate Change and Physical Health
Climate is an inherent part of the natural systems that are associated with both biodiversity and physical health. Therefore, climate change is similarly interconnected
with the processes discussed in the previous two sections, particularly in the context
of rapid changes that go beyond the pace of autonomous adaptive capacity and in
the context of other drivers of change, such as urbanisation (Fisher et al. 2017).
Climate change has direct and indirect influences on the underlying mechanisms of
processes discussed in the previous sections. Direct impacts on human health
include, for example, the influence of higher temperatures on heat stress in urban
dwellers. Indirect impacts include how climate change affects evaporative cooling
in urban areas through which people’s exposure to high temperature events may be
reduced. In this section, we consider the ways in which climate change affects physical health and the role of the natural environment, both generally and through biodiversity. Since biodiversity is also affected by climate change, the section ends
with an assessment of climate impacts on the biosphere, particularly in terms of the
functions and processes identified in the previous sections as being important for
human health.
There are numerous reviews of the deleterious effects of accelerated anthropogenic climate change on natural systems and on human health, as well as those that
point to some of the possible benefits. Reviews include the following direct/indirect
and primary/secondary pathways (LWEC 2015; European Environment Agency
2017; Fig. 2.5).
• Health effects of heat and heat waves
Heat-waves are estimated to have resulted in cumulative death rates of 129.0
people per million in Europe between 1991 and 2015, 24 times higher than the next
highest most severe extreme weather-related hazards in terms of death rates (which
are cold- and flood-related events at 5.3 and 6.4 people per million respectively; European Environment Agency 2017). Heat-waves are well known to be
associated with excess deaths particularly in older people, people with pre-existing
health problems and people living in urban areas, for example based on analyses of
the 2003 European heat-wave (Johnson et al. 2004; Grize et al. 2005; Poumadere
et al. 2005). Excess death rates have also been recorded in cities across the world,
e.g. in Chicago, Melbourne and Moscow, including cities with populations already
adapted to relatively high temperatures (Norton et al. 2015; Burkart et al. 2014).
Evidence from the UK suggests that cardiovascular causes result in the larger number of deaths, though tending to be more associated with atrial fibrillation or pulmonary heart disease compared to other heart diseases. Furthermore, excessive heat
seems to be most strongly associated with causes of deaths related to the endocrine,
nervous and urinary/renal systems (Arbuthnott and Hajat 2017). People with dementia and on some prescribed medications may also be susceptible to heat-related
hospitalisation and mortality, possibly due to higher potential for dehydration and/
or reduced ability to sweat (Stollberger et al. 2009). The frequency and severity
2 Biodiversity, Physical Health and Climate Change: A Synthesis of Recent Evidence