Human health and the earth's ecosystems are increasingly threatened by climate change, warns a new study jointly released by three leading environmental organisations here this week.
"Climate Change Futures", by the Centre for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Swiss Re, a private health insurance company based in Switzerland, says that adverse health impacts are likely to cause severe economic consequences.
"Global climate change and the ripples of that change will affect every aspect of life, from municipal budgets for snowplowing to the spread of disease," the report says. For example, the effects of hurricanes "can extend far beyond coastal properties to the heartland through their impact on offshore drilling and oil prices".
Human health is affected worldwide by diseases driven by climate change, according to the authors of the report. "Health is the final common pathway of all that we see around us," says Paul Epstein, associate director of the Centre for Health and the Global Environment, who contributed to the report.
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