2.
Conceptual Framework and Major Science Issues
2.1.
Goals and Objectives
Goals
The project has four primary goals: 1. Identify, characterise and quantify health risks due to GEC, now and in the reasonably foreseeable (scenario-based) future: a. Develop methods of modelling/understanding tradeoffs development, environmental change and human health.
between
economic
b. Take account of the roles of culture, social institutions and technology choices in modulating health risks, affecting vulnerability and influencing policy responses. 2. Describe spatial (geographic, intra/inter-population) and temporal differences in health risks, to better understand vulnerabilities and priorities for interventions. 3. Develop adaptation strategies for reducing health risks, assess their cost-effectiveness, and communicate results (especially to decision-makers). 4. Foster research training programs, to boost networked international research capacity in GEC and Human Health. An over-arching goal is to elucidate the spectrum and magnitude of risks to human wellbeing and health, consequent upon human-induced global environmental changes, in order that society at large has a fuller understanding of the actual and likely consequences of the ways in which, collectively, human societies are changing the Earth System. Research objectives As corollary to the above project goals, the two main research objectives are: 1. Assess past, current and future health impacts of GEC Assess the relationships, and where possible the mechanisms, by which GEC affects health outcomes. The research results should then be applied to the development of adaptation (impact-lessening) measures, such as improvements in living and working conditions, strengthening of relevant social institutions, and the use of Health Early Warning Systems. 2. Enrich the policy discussion about the need for, and methods of, mitigation and adaptation Communicate the results of the above research to the wider public policy arena. This should facilitate the development of strategies and policies for both mitigation (hazard reduction or elimination) and for increasing the knowledge levels, preparedness, adaptive capacity and resilience of local populations. An important additional research task is to develop new methods of modelling population health risks and burdens, and of clarifying the tradeoffs between economic development, environmental change and human health. This in turn will require an expanded range of datasets and an extension of ways of using existing data-sets.
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