Beyond the goals and focus of the project. The Science Plan incorporates a review of the scientific literature about the context and nature of various major GECs and the pathways by which they do, or are likely in future to, affect human health.
Important questions and priority topics for research are identified, for each of the following major GEC domains:
1. Atmospheric composition changes and their health impacts
a. Climate change and health
b. Stratospheric ozone depletion and health
2. Land Use/Land Cover changes and human health issues
a. Ecosystem functions and services
b. Traditional, pharmaceutical and industrial uses of biodiversity resources
3. Infectious disease and Global Environmental Changes
a. Land use/land cover change and vector/rodent-borne infectious diseases
b. Changes in human-animal relationships and emergence/spread of zoonoses
c. Food-related, water-related and other infectious diseases
4. Food-producing systems and health
5. Urbanisation and health
a. Extreme climate events, thermal stress and air pollution
b. Urban sprawl and exposure to vector-borne diseases
c. Water quality and disease outbreaks
d. Population mobility
e. Crowding, concentration and the diffusion of disease
6. Vulnerability, social representation and resilience building
a. Vulnerability
b. Social representation and resilience building
The Implementation Strategy for the above Science Plan is then addressed in relation to:
(i)the need to develop systems-based thinking and analytic methods;
(ii) the need for stronger interdisciplinarity, highlighting the human dimensions of the problem;
(iii) the need for enriched collaborative networks (regionally and globally – and including collaboration among the ESSP projects); and
(iv) various key aspects of project management, encompassing the location and operation of the IPO, the role and function of the Scientific Steering Committee, and the training and capacity-building activities that should be developed and promoted.
A three-stage Project Timeline is proposed, along with the intended outcomes of the research. The information in the report is also intended for the information of policy-makers, to enrich understanding of how these modern-day global environmental issues bear on human societies, wellbeing and health.
The information should also prove useful for fund-raising activities for implementing this ESSP Joint Project on Global Environmental Change and Human Health.
Request hard copies:
Louise Smith at the IHDP Secretariat
Download PDF:
