Climate Change and Health in Canada

Ford, Lea Berrang

Current climate change effects on global health are small but increasing in most countries (16) . This is due to the lag effect between greenhouse-gas emissions, climate system warming, and the weight of evidence documenting health impacts. While the burden of negative health impacts will be disproportionately high in poorer countries, even high-income countries will be vulnerable to morbidity and mortality related to increases in the number and severity of extreme weather events such as storms, heatwaves, and floods (16) . Vulnerable populations in all countries include the urban poor, the elderly and children, traditional communities, subsistence farming communities, and coastal populations (16, 21, (36) (37) (38) . Evidence does not support the potential for economic development to combat the health impacts of climate change (16) .