Pacific phenomena herald warming trend
Challenges await that require preparation now, experts warn
STORY SUMMARY »
Flooding, famine and disease could affect Pacific island nations first because of global warming, federal officials told delegates at health conference meeting in Honolulu this week.
Dr. Mark Keim of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said rising seas and temperatures could cause drought, flooding and other severe weather, and increase chances of diseases and malnutrition.
Keim and other policy-makers, emergency preparedness and health officials are meeting at the East West Center at the Pacific Global Health Conference.
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Rising seas and coastal flooding from climate change and global warming will affect millions worldwide, starting in the Pacific, says a federal specialist on environmental health.
Effects of Climate Change
Hawaii will be one of the first alerts for the rest of the world about the damaging effects of climate changes, says Andrew Hashimoto, dean and director of the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. Dr. Mark Keim, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, talked this week about the effects of climate changes and global warming starting in the Pacific:
» Crop failure
» Changes in fish abundance
» Spread of diseases
» Poor sanitation
» More frequent and severe cyclones
» More frequent El Ninos
» Reduced freshwater resources
» Coral bleaching
» Changes in islands' social culture
American Samoa, Micronesia, Fiji and Tuvalu "will be the most affected early on," Dr. Mark Keim, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told delegates at a Pacific Global Health Conference this week at the East-West Center.
The Pacific already is "the most hazard-prone area in the world" with high death rates from diseases and environmental emergencies, he said. And it will be "the most disaster-prone area in the world" if nothing is done about it, he added.
"Low-lying atolls in our generation or our children's generation will no longer exist unless we do something to mitigate it."
The acting associate director for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response, National Center for Environmental Health, graphically outlined potential worldwide problems from an "unequivocal" warming climate system:
Drought, wildfires, crop failure, storms, flooding, changes in fish abundance, spread of diseases, poor sanitation, malnutrition, more frequent and severe cyclones, more frequent El Ninos, reduced freshwater resources, erosion, coral bleaching and changes in islands' social culture.
"These are remarkable challenges," he said.
Keim said he was in the Chuuk State of Micronesia four weeks ago with the Federal Emergency Management Agency after combined high surf and high astronomical tides inundated taro patches on several atolls.
"Taro and breadfruit were dead," he said. "The people have no food whatsoever. They're eating rotten taro and some leaves on the trees."
It will take nearly two years for them to grow taro to replace losses from one day of flooding, he said.
The people will suffer from poor sanitation and diseases and changes over time may force them to evacuate, he said, "but it is very hard to get people out of the area."
In northern Micronesia, FEMA is delivering rice and flour to several thousand people suffering from drought, but they're getting no protein, he said.
"Droughts change the way we eat," he said. There are no carbohydrates "so people truly starve to death in the Pacific."
Extreme weather events already are occurring, pointed out Dr. Linda Degutis, president elect of the American Public Health Association and Yale University professor of emergency medicine and public health.
Among them, she cited more tornadoes in the Midwest than in any other year, heat-related deaths in northern cities, and coastal flooding and erosion.
"Mosquitoes might move into places we normally might not see them," Degutis said. "We have to be worried."
One of APHA's key missions is to help make policy-makers aware of the issues, she said.
"A real issue to us is getting people locally to advocate and talk about the problems, what happens to their own community," Degutis said. "These are the people who vote."
Keim said, "All arms of public health should be strengthened to move us toward more resilience" to prepare for any hazard. Political advocacy also is essential, he said.
Besides natural and man-made public health disasters, family violence, substance abuse, obesity and changing behaviors are significant health issues, Degutis said.
Dr. Thierry Jubeau, secretariat for the Pacific community, discussed the risks to Pacific Island countries and territories from infectious diseases such as cholera, dengue fever, typhoid fever, leptospirosis, measles and influenza, especially the H5N1 bird flu strain.
A Pacific Regional Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Project is under way to protect communities with early detection and response to any outbreak, he said.
A Pacific Public Health Surveillance Network also has been formed, comprising ministers of health and heads of veterinarian and animal health services, he said. The focus is on communicable diseases, with epidemic diseases as a priority, he said.
The Hawaii Public Health Association and Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum sponsored the global conference, attended by educators, policymakers and health professionals from throughout the Pacific and the mainland.