Healthy planet, places and peop...(annual opportunity to send personal mess...),Health

2007 Australian of the Year, Prof Tim Flannery said it is hardly surprising that human health will be strongly influenced by climate change.

From water availability and quantity to temperature and food, our changing climate will influence all of the fundamentals of life, Prof Flannery said. Proudly supported by

To ignore climate change in terms of human health would be a bit like treating the fish in a fishbowl, while refusing to change their ever more polluted water."

Prof McMichael said health and medical research has long been based on the premise that the natural world around us is essentially constant.

Today, human actions are inadvertently impairing the working of the world. We need to understand more about how human-induced changes to climate and global environment are affecting, and will affect, our lives, Prof McMichael said.

The report was launched today by Research Australia CEO, Rebecca James, who said the reports findings highlight the importance of health and medical research in helping Australians adapt to the changing environment.

We are only beginning to recognise the health implications of a warmer planet. More research is needed to understand its full impact on our health, and how we can adapt, Ms James said.

The potential health impacts of climate change are significant. Without the work of medical researchers to address health risks, the impact on our health, economy and society could be dramatic.

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