Made-in-B.C. climate change study
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Tim Takaro, 778.782.7186, ttakaro@sfu.ca
Meghan Wagler, BCRRHRN, 604.742.1793, waglerm@bcrrhrn.ca
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca
In a new white paper commissioned by the B.C. government, five university researchers argue British Columbians are getting the short end of the stick in climate change health-impact studies.
Three Simon Fraser University researchers—health scientists Tim Takaro and Kate Bassil, and earth scientist Diana Allen—are among the authors of Climate Change and Health in British Columbia.
On Friday, June 26, Takaro and Allen will discuss the paper at a one-day networking event for researchers, research users, students and policymakers.
The B.C. Rural and Remote Health Research Network (BCRRHRN) and the B.C. Environmental and Occupational Health Research Network (BCEOHRN) are hosting the event: Climate Change and Health in Rural and Remote British Columbia.
The event takes place 8:30 am-3 pm in Asia Pacific Hall at SFU’s Morris J Wosk Centre for Dialogue. Registration is required.
The authors note that the World Health Organization (WHO) and governments globally are often focused on analyzing the effects of climate change in the developing world. They warn that—without attention to how climate change is affecting regions like B.C. with heavily populated coastal cities and remote rural environmentally compromised communities—important opportunities for prevention will be lost.
“While there is strong evidence for shifts in climate in B.C.,” says Allen, “there is virtually no direct evidence yet available on the impact of climate change on human health in B.C.”
Adds Bassil, “Research on the human health effects of climate change must not only grapple with the intensity and pace of climate change, but also with the location and extent of vulnerability of human populations most likely exposed to climate change.”
The authors use the limited data available about how climate change is affecting regions similar to B.C. to hypothesize what environmental calamities could befall the province and their health outcomes.
They stress that B.C. needs a ‘made-in-B.C.’ climate-change and health-research program to deal with environmental changes that will aggravate existing health disparities in the province, especially in remote rural areas.
“Research and adaptive policy must, in the immediate future, be focused on preparing vulnerable urban, and rural and remote resource dependent communities, especially those with aboriginal populations and affected by the mountain pine beetle infestation,” says Takaro.
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Backgrounder: Call for ‘made-in-B.C.’ climate change strategy
Five university researchers from SFU, UVic and UNBC authored the white paper Climate Change and Health in British Columbia. It is one of eight studies produced by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, a consortium of four research-intensive universities in B.C., created by the provincial government to develop climate change solutions.
Here are the paper’s key findings:
- Communities that rely upon glacier and snowfields for their water supply are likely to face adverse health effects related to water quality as well as quantity.
- If climate change produces more frequent and more severe fires and floods in the province, both acute and chronic illnesses in relation to these hazards will increase.
- As fires increase, the interaction with increased temperatures may lead to increases in respiratory and cardiovascular disease.
- The frequency of heat events is likely to increase in B.C. and will be significant for vulnerable populations in the Interior.
- The prevalence of vector borne illnesses, already established in the B.C., will likely increase as temperatures and precipitation increase.
- Some as yet unknown number and type of illnesses with vectors from warmer and wetter climes may occur and establish themselves in BC as the climate changes.
- It will be particularly important to investigate the impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities, especially aboriginal communities, such as those currently affected by the mountain pine beetle infestation.
For more information about participating in this event online, please contact Meghan Wagler at waglerm@bcrrhrn.ca for more details.
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