Canada - Human Health and Environment Research Network

Global temperatures are increasing and the earths climate is changing. While natural and physical events and cycles have resulted in significant global climate change in the past, the rapid change now underway can be clearly ascribed to human activity. Em issions of carbon dioxide and other green-house gases are the drivers of this change. From a human perspective, climate change brings with it impacts on health that are direct and indirect. The best known consequences are: risks from temperature and preci pitation changes; severe weather; rising sea levels and habitat alteration (from desertification to loss of permafrost); increased human exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation; air pollution; and less availability of fresh water and traditional foods, whe ther grown or captured. This proposal plan is meant to initiate studies mainly on consequences of climate change on the movements of persistent organic pollutants to the Arctic, their distributional changes within the circumpolar region and consequences f or human health. It will use direct measurement, community dialogue and model predictions. It will result in a greater capacity within the region for adaptive policy action designed to adress the possibility of significant enhanced exposure to POPs. The p lanned projects will include: (i) Detailed, comparative and measured health status. (ii) Current levels and trends and future levels of POPs and metals in Indigenous populations in Arctic communities. (iii) Well characterized community knowledge/perspecti ves and collected data from interviews, surveys and existing data bases related directly to environmental and health change. (iv) Direct linking of atmospheric and environmental modeling with human predictions. (v) Detailed characterization of communities in Arctic areas. (vi) Policy directions for reducing exposures to POPs and metals. The aim of this application is to organize all activities in a systematic way based on a bilateral Norwegian-Canadian network.