Human Health and Climate Change in Pacific Island Countries
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Human health and climate change in Pacific island countries Human health and climate change in Pacific island countries WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Human health and climate change in Pacific Island countries 1. Climate change. 2. Health. 3. Environmental health. 4. Risk assessment 5. Pacific islands. I. World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific. ISBN-13 978 92 9061 730 3 (NLM Classification: WA 30.5) © World Health Organization, 2015 All rights reserved. Publications of the World Health Organization are available on the WHO website (www.who.int) or can be purchased from WHO Press, World Health Organization, 20 avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland (tel. +41 22 791 3264; fax: +41 22 791 4857; e-mail: [email protected]). Requests for permission to reproduce or translate WHO publications – whether for sale or for non-commercial distribution – should be addressed to WHO Press through the WHO website (www.who.int/about/licensing/copyright_form/en/index.html). For WHO Western Pacific Regional Publications, request for permission to reproduce should be addressed to Publications Office, World Health Organization, Regional Office for the Western Pacific, P.O. Box 2932, 1000, Manila, Philippines, fax: +632 521 1036, e-mail: [email protected]. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the World Health Organization concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dotted lines on maps represent approximate border lines for which there may not yet be full agreement. 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Shimizu Inside pages: © WHO: pp. 8, 20, 40, 74, 92, 99, 104, 136 – © AFP: pp. 46, 48, 52, 59, 65, 69, 78, 82, 86, 95 HUMAN HEALTH AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN PACIFIC ISLAND COUNTRIES Contents Foreword .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... viii Preface ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ix Autorship and acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................................................................... xi Glossary of terms ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... xiv Abbreviations...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... xvi Executive summary ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... xix CHAPTER 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................................................1 1.1 WHO’s role in global climate change and health ............................................................................................................................. 2 1.2 WHO’s work on climate change and health in the Pacific region............................................................................. 4 CHAPTER 2. Health impacts of climate change: science and evidence ................................................................... 9 2.1 Climate change science ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Climate change in the Pacific ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 2.3 The links between climate change and human health ....................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER 3. Vulnerabilities of Pacific island countries to the health impacts of climate change .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 3.1 Assessing climate change and health vulnerability ................................................................................................................. 21 3.2 Methods used to assess climate change and health vulnerabilities in Pacific island countries ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 24 3.3 Summary of climate-sensitive health risks identified in Pacific island countries ....................... 26 3.4 Categories of climate-sensitive health risks in Pacific island countries..................................................... 27 CHAPTER 4. Health adaptation strategies for Pacific island countries ................................................................ 41 4.1 Defining “adaptation” in the context of climate change and health ................................................................ 41 4.2 Adaptation to the health impacts of climate change in the Pacific context ....................................... 42 4.3 Climate-resilient health systems in Pacific Island countries ...................................................................................... 44 CHAPTER 5. Country-specific health vulnerability assessments and adaptation plans in the Pacific region ................................................................................................................................................................. 47 5.1 Cook Islands ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 48 5.2 Federated States of Micronesia ............................................................................................................................................................................... 52 5.3 Fiji ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 59 5.4 Kiribati ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 65 5.5 Marshall Islands ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 69 5.6 Nauru ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 74 5.7 Niue..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 78 5.8 Palau .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 82 5.9 Samoa .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................