Transcript CP1 Livelihoods inLand™

Responding to health impacts
of climate change in the
Australian desert
David Campbell, Mark Stafford Smith, Jocelyn
Davies, Pim Kuipers, John Wakerman &
Murray McGregor
2008 Desert Knowledge Symposium and
Business Showcase
Alice Springs
Wednesday 5th November 2008
Strategically, there are two
parts in addressing this issue
Understanding
• Existing conditions
• Expected impact of climate change
Responding
• Response
– Responding to changed conditions
– Importance of avoiding breakdown of systems
– Dealing with risk and uncertainty
Understanding
• Existing conditions
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Demography
Environment
Poor health of Aboriginal people & poor facilities
general impact of settlement and disconnection of
original land managers
• Expected impact of climate change
– Increased heat decreased effective rainfall
– Environment and increased variability
– Higher costs in response and mitigation
Responding to climate change
• Response
– Responding to changed conditions
– Importance of avoiding breakdown of systems
– Dealing with risk and uncertainty
– Increased variability and extremes
Response
• Address risk and uncertainty
– Identify regions and the conditions and likely impact
on those regions
– Develop responses
• Cooperation
– local state and territory, national governments,
industry NGO’s, and individuals and integration of
health and other services
• Meet increased health demands
– including complementary inputs such as housing,
waste & water management, employment
opportunities
This presentation is based in part on:
Campbell, D. Stafford Smith, Davies, J. Kuipers, P. Wakerman, J.
and McGregor, M. 2008, ‘Responding to the health impacts of
climate change in the Australian desert’ Rural and Remote Health
Journal
:
‘www.rrh.org.au/articles/subviewnew.asp?ArticleID=
1008’
The research reported here was jointly supported by funding from
the Australian Government Cooperative Research Centre Program
through the Desert Knowledge CRC and the Centre for Remote
Health, funded by the Department of Health and Ageing University
Department of Rural Health program. The views expressed herein
do not necessarily represent the views of Desert Knowledge CRC,
the Centre for Remote Health or its participants.