Bibliothèque

This policy document presents an article from WHO staff on Global Climate Change and the various implications for international public health policy. It highlights that the most effective responses are likely to be strengthening of the key functions of environmental management, surveillance and response to safeguard health from natural disasters and changes in infectious disease patterns, and a more pro-active approach to ensure that development decisions serve the ultimate goal of improving human health. Climate change therefore demands that we intensify our efforts in preventive public health and place that crucial task at the core of sustainable development.

This technical document is a scientific document presenting methods for estimating the global burden of disease attributable to climate change. The series aims at supporting countries to generate reliable information for policy-making.

This analytical report summarises the findings from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment’s (MA) global and sub-global assessments of how ecosystem changes do, or could, affect human health and well- being. This report represents a call to the health sector, not only to cure the diseases that result from environmental degradation, but also to ensure that the benefits that the natural environment provides to human health and well-being are preserved for future generations.

This manual is an attempt to sensitize growing adults about the importance of the linkages between climate change and human health. The students will learn the reasons behind the changes going on, how they affect each one of us in one way or another, the current and future effects and how we can respond to them. The complete resource material consists of two manuals: one for teachers and one for students. The student’s manual is for them to take home, study and share information about climate change and its impact on human health with their families.

This manual is an attempt to sensitize growing adults about the importance of the linkages between climate change and human health. The students will learn the reasons behind the changes going on, how they affect each one of us in one way or other, the current and future effects and how we can respond to them. The complete resource material consists of two manuals: one for teachers and one for students. The teachers’ manual is a training resource to support the spreading of information via interactive classroom activities.

This manual describes the recommended elements of heat-health action plans in detail and gives examples from existing heat-health action plans in Europe. Member States are invited to consult it in order to develop or improve heat-health action plans tailored to their individual system and context.

This training manual has been designed to accompany workshops for city health officials on the health impacts of climate change. In this training programme trainees will learn about many technical terms that are largely within the realm of ecology, the environmental sciences and in particular, meteorology and climatology. It is important that they apply this knowledge to a very practical concern: assessing the impact of climate change in their cities, and planning public health interventions to address this threat in support to their communities.

This activity report presents the first Annual Report on the CIF. It is an informative summary of the CIF’s status and a useful first step in beginning to document the early lessons on the design and start-up of the CIF. Its purpose is to make the CIF known to a wide range of stakeholders and to describe the design and early implementation process.

This video features the winners of the ‘Social Dimensions of Climate Change’ film contest, sponsored by the World Bank. The contest is intended to inspire people around the globe to express how climate change is affecting their lives.

This activity report is an output of the World Bank project Adaptation Strategies to the Environmental and Socioeconomic Impacts of El Niño for Rural Communities in Ecuador and Peru. The report highlights that the livelihoods of most communities depend on climate-sensitive sectors, especially agriculture. Understanding how these communities perceive risks and cope with climate hazards is important for identifying entry points for efforts to build resilience.

This policy document describes an approach to forecasting future climate at the local level using historical weather stations, satellite data and future projections of climate data from global climate models (GCMs) that is easily understandable by policymakers and planners. It describes an approach to synthesize the myriad climate projections, often with conflicting messages, into an easily-interpreted set of graphical displays that summarizes the basic implications of the ensemble of available climate models.

This analytical report looks at climate change as a tragedy of the commons: despite the global benefits of reducing green-house gas emissions, no individual has any incentive to reduce his or her own emissions. Yet many people are making efforts to reduce emissions and putting pressure on businesses and governments to do the same.

This analytical report proposes ideas regarding what can be done to combat climate change at the household, microbusiness, microfinance institution, and systemic levels. Within the microfinance sector, the word « sustainable » has tended to be used in a very narrow way, mainly referring to institutions that are financially viable. In the past few years, the term has broadened to include social performance. Today, the increasing emphasis on responsible finance has added environmental impact to the factors considered as measures of success for a microfinance institution.

This analytical report addresses the environmental consequences of global warming and of the increase in sea surface temperatures. The study assesses eighty-four coastal developing countries in five regions. It considers the potential impact of a large (1-in-100-year) storm surge by contemporary standards, and then compares it with intensification which is expected to occur in this century. This is the first such exercise for developing countries.

This analytical report reviews the scientific literature on climate change and sea level rise (SLR) to date. There appears to be a consensus across studies that global sea level is projected to rise during the 21st century at a greater rate than during the period 1961 to 2003 and unanimous agreement that SLR will not be geographically uniform. Ocean thermal expansion is projected to contribute significantly, and land ice will increasingly lose mass at an accelerated rate.

This analytical report is a background paper to the 2010 World Development Report and looks at the cognitive and behavioural challenges in responding to climate change. It asks why climate scientists have identified global warming as the most important environmental issue of our time, but it has taken over 20 years for the problem to penetrate the public discourse in even the most superficial manner.

This analytical report is a background paper to the 2010 World Development Report exploring the challenge of climate change governance. It examines in particular the role that national governments can play in putting in place institutions, policies, plans and measures to promote mitigation of, and adaptation to, human induced climate change.

This technical document provides an overview of the current understanding about the range of different approaches to geoengineering. From the wide range of suggested approaches, four potentially viable approaches to limiting near term impacts are identified that, in the author’s opinion, merit immediate study and consideration.

This analytical report presents an overview of what adaptation to climate change might mean for ECA countries. It starts with a discussion of emerging best practices on adaptation planning around the world. Then it discusses possible activities to improve resilience organized around impacts on natural resources (water, biodiversity, and the coastal environment), health, the “unbuilt” environment (agriculture and forestry), and the built environment (infrastructure and housing). The last chapter concludes with a discussion of two areas in great need of strengthening given the changing climate: disaster preparedness and hydrometeorological services.

This activity report attemps to set out a compelling argument for including ecosystem-based approaches to mitigation and adaptation as a third and essential pillar in national strategies to address climate change.