With the support from National Science Council (NSC), Taiwan, Southeast Asia Regional Committee for START (SARCS) Secretariat and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) have jointly hosted the 2010 Advanced Training Workshop on Southeast Asia Regional Health Impacts and Adaptation under Climate Change from November 25th to 29th in a conference room at Zenda Suites, Tainan, Taiwan, where scholars and experts from United States, Korea, Japan and Taiwan have gathered together to discuss environmental and health issues resulted from climate change.
In the opening ceremony, NCKU President Michael Ming-Chiao Lai expressed in his opening remark, “This is the 2nd year SARCS Training Workshop held in National Cheng Kung University. This Workshop is a meaningful exercise which aims to increase capacity of regional scientists and institutes to cooperate on global environmental research, and to coordinate the work of national and regional societies, to bring together scientists working on health issues and to foster collaboration and the exchange of ideas concerning climate change in the Southeast Asia region.”
President Lai also mentioned, “This Workshop consists of several themes of importance, including adaptations of climate change and health, food security and nutrition, extreme temperature effects and adaptations, air-pollution-related health effects and adaptations, biodiversity-related effects and adaptations. We are glad to invite around ten well-established scholars in this field from USA, Korea, Japan and Taiwan to serve as the lecturers for the Workshop.”
“Climate change is projected to have far-reaching effects on human health and well-being. Heatwaves and other extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, and windstorms, annually affect millions of people and cause billions of dollars of damage. Climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events over coming decades. Climate can affect health burdens through affecting the number of people at risk of malnutrition, as well as through alterations in the geographic range and incidence of vectorborne, zoonotic, and food- and waterborne diseases, and changes in the prevalence of diseases associated with air pollutants and aeroallergens,” said Dr. Kristie L. Ebi of Carnegie Institution for Science, U.S., in her lecture of “Adaptation of Climate Change and Health - the Past, Present and Future.”
Dr. Kristie L. Ebi also stated, “Climate change has begun to alter natural systems, increasing the incidence and geographic range of some vectorborne and zoonotic diseases. Additional climate change is projected to significantly increase the number of people at risk of major causes of ill health, particularly malnutrition, diarrheal diseases, malaria, and other vectorborne diseases. Climate also can impact population health through climate-induced economic dislocation and environmental decline.”
Dr. Ebi further stressed, “Climate change will make more difficult the control of climate-sensitive health outcomes. Therefore, policies need to explicitly consider these risks in order to maintain current levels of control. In most cases, the primary response will be to enhance current health risk management activities. Although there are uncertainties about future climate change, failure to invest in adaptation may leave communities and nations poorly prepared, thus increasing the probability of severe adverse consequences. Policy makers need to understand the potential impacts of climate change, the effectiveness of current programs, and the range of available choices for enhancing current or developing new programs and activities.”
Prof. Huey-Jen Su of NCKU Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, the Chairman of the Workshop, revealed, “The purpose of the Workshop is to assemble fact sheets and current statistics concerning regional or national status in responding to the challenge of global climate change, to develop skills and knowledge needed for engaging in studies or investigations regarding impact assessment and adaptation formulation for young researchers of the Southeast Asia region, to facilitate the communication and interaction among diverse disciplines involved in constructing the adaptation strategy and action plan of various localities and to build a network and platform for coordinating interests and professionals of Southeastern Asian countries related to climate change adaptation endeavors.”
Previous studies have demonstrated that global warming would alter the regional climatic patterns, jeopardize ecological system, and affect public health in the form of heat stress associated mortality and morbidity, air pollution associated diseases burden, extreme weather associated mental health, inadequate water and food associated malnutrition, and distribution and epidemic of various infectious diseases. With all the recognized impacts, issues of adaptation strategies have become top priorities both in terms of research needs and strategic exercises.
As part of Taiwan's contribution to the SARCS capacity building program, the 2010 Advanced Training Workshop on Southeast Asia Regional Health Impacts and Adaptation under Climate Change, which is open to experts from SARCS member countries and other territories of interest, focuses on illustrating the health impacts and possible adaptations under climate change, especially with the Southeastern Asia scenarios as examples of exercises.
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