2017: Many factors that contribute to our health and well-being as New Zealanders are threatened by climate change. These include direct effects such as increased exposure to heat waves and weather events but also indirect effects, such as reduced water safety or challenges to our mental health.
This evidence summary, video and infographic describe the human health impacts of climate change for New Zealand and how the building blocks of our health will be disrupted.
Evidence summary: Human Health Impacts of Climate Change for New Zealand
Video: How climate change will disrupt many factors that contribute to our health, featuring Professor Alistair Woodward, epidemiologist and biostatistician, University of Auckland.
Infographic of how climate change will disrupt the building blocks of our health from the air we breath and water we drink through to disease risk and our social support networks.
It’s a familiar New Zealand story, the havoc wrecked by all the pest species we’ve brought in. But in the case of mosquitoes, the worst might be yet to come. There were 12 mostly bird-nibbling mosquito species in pre-European times. Since our arrival, three new species have become permanently established here. We’ve stopped dozens more at our ports, and eradicated one. Climate change will make that border control more difficult, says University of Auckland Senior Research Fellow José Derraik. And if new species arrive, an outbreak of mosquito-borne disease in New Zealand becomes ever more likely.
Action on climate change is essential, but poorly planned action risks exacerbating inequality, says University of Auckland public health physician Dr Rhys Jones, making the health of our poorest people even worse.