Health Effects of Climate Change and Their Socioeconomic Impact
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Air, Climate Change and Sustainability".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (13 February 2024) | Viewed by 1817
Special Issue Editors
Interests: Research interests include fluid mechanics, including CFD, within a variety of multi-disciplinary environments including medicine and biomedical engineering, the transmission of viral disease (COVID-19), as well as the adaptation of infrastructure to climate change, including the effects of heat, flooding and sea level rise. Carola has a particular interest in the impact of climate change on health, including mental health. She co-authored the report Rising Seas: The Engineering Challenge, published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
Interests: coastal flood risk; the specification of design conditions and the associated risk of damage and overtopping due to wave and tidal action; the assessment of the resilience of health and emergency planning to the projected impacts of climate change
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Climate change poses serious challenges for current and future generations globally. Rising temperatures, changing weather patterns, the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and natural hazards, as well as rising sea levels are affecting societies all over the world.
The impacts of flooding, heat and drought are widespread and complex, and have major social, economic, and environmental consequences. These tend to be addressed and reported on solely in terms of economic effects or in relation to deaths occurring as a direct consequence, such as from heat stroke or drowning. However, the health effects from climate change are far more far-reaching, with complex links to and impacts on society. Examples of these include: the increased incidence of mental disorders after flooding; the outbreaks of infectious and waterborne diseases; and the effects of cumulative physiological stress following extended periods of high day and nighttime temperatures which exacerbate the primary causes of death globally, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and renal disease.
As flooding, heat and drought events rise, the health of vulnerable groups, such as children, pregnant women, older and disabled people, is directly affected. Heat affects health and well-being, but also indirectly impacts on food and drink processing, pharmaceuticals and clinical oxygen production, energy generation, as well as sewage and wastewater treatments. Additionally, heat-related health effects experienced by workers can negatively impact economic productivity.
This Special Issue seeks to increase the knowledge and understanding of climate change-related health effects and their impact on society. Therefore, submissions are being sought in the areas of, but not limited to:
- Health effects related to flooding, heat and drought
- Projections of climate-related ill health
- Ecological/environmental impact
- Treatment/mitigation of climate-related ill health
- Economics of treating climate change-related adverse health effects/impact on health systems
- Societal impact on well-being in different cultures
Dr. Carola König
Dr. Dominic Hames
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- climate change
- adaptation
- health
- mental health
- flooding
- heat
- health and safety
- disease spread
- socioeconomic impact
- treatment/mitigation of climate-related ill health
