A warmer Arctic will affect health

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — The 144-page Impacts of a Warming Arctic, produced by the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment project and released in Iceland this week, includes the first far-reaching look at the health impact of climate change in northern communities.
And these impacts could range from sunburn and more social stress, to cancer and the spread of new diseases in Arctic regions.

Dr. James Berner of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Dr. Chris Furgal from Quebec City’s Nasivvik Centre for Inuit Health and Changing Environments examined the relationship between climate change and health in the circumpolar North.

They looked at how people interact with their environment, “which is a defining element of many northern cultures,” taking into account the direct and indirect impacts on health from climate change.

And they concluded it’s hard to pin down exactly how climate change will affect health because the impacts will vary, depending on how old people are, where they live, what their sex is, and how much money they earn.

But one thing is certain: climate change will occur and the health of remote Arctic communities will be the most vulnerable.

The direct health impacts of climate change will come from extreme events such as storms, floods, rockslides and temperature swings.

“In regions where we do have the projections of cooling and more temperature extremes, where we’d see more cold or hot days, there’s potential thermal stress on individuals who are already compromised, [such as] elders or people that have respiratory problems,” Dr. Furgal said.

Increased exposure to ultra-violet radiation in the spring may also affect immune systems, leading to skin cancer, non-Hodgkins lymphoma and cataracts and increased contaminant levels.

Dr. Furgal said the indirect health impacts may include stress from changes in the environment, damage to infrastructure from melting permafrost and storm surges or even the effects of switching to a western diet.

There may also be increased social stress because climate change will affect the overall well-being of communities.

“Lots of things are possible. What we really need to do is just be more vigilant about monitoring and watching, so we can act in advance of something actually happening,” Dr. Furgal said.

Climate change may also hit remote communities hard, particularly those that lack a developed health infrastructure.

Dr. Furgal said doctors and nurses working in the North will have to be more aware of how climate change may affect young people, elders and hunters or other people who spend more time on the land.

“They have to be alert for strange occurrences that you otherwise wouldn’t expect or recognize in the region,” Dr. Furgal said.