Home / Health and Sea Level Rise: Impacts on South Florida

Health and Sea Level Rise: Impacts on South Florida

Abstract: There exist on-going local efforts by universities, government, and non-governmental organizations researching the issue of sea-level rise adaptation in Florida. The focus of much of this work in South Florida has been to understand the physical and economic vulnerability, as well as to develop adaptation strategies for the natural and built environments. Within these efforts, there has been limited attention to the relationship between sea-level rise and human health. Yet, both nationally and internationally focused sea-level rise studies have underscored that the effects on human health are a major component to understanding sea-level rise vulnerability and for designing adaptation plans; these include The National Climate Assessment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) program, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Climate Change and Human Health program. While there programs assess and seek to understand health outcomes associated with climate change, they do not consider health as a risk factor. This study has considered health as a risk factor as well as an outcome that would contribute to and be affected by the negative effects of climate change. Health, as measured by chronic conditions, infectious disease, and access to care, was considered in relationship with sea-level rise as both an outcome and risk factor to vulnerability.

Resource URL: http://flhealthinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Health-and-Sea-Level-Rise-Full-Report-2016.pdf