Foundations in Climate, Environmental Change and Health

This set reviews the foundations of climate change, its health impacts, international governance frameworks, economic mechanisms, and the epidemiological methods used to study climate-health linkages.

Climate Governance

The structural arrangement of formal and informal rules, policies, and institutions designed to coordinate societal responses for climate mitigation and adaptation.

Political Economy of Climate Change

The study focusing on how power dynamics and economic systems interact to influence societies' responses to global warming and policy outcomes.

Climate Dilemma

A social trap where short-term individual or national interests conflict with the collective action required for long-term global stability.

Market Failure

An economic situation where the price system fails to account for social costs, specifically seen in the historical overproduction of greenhouse gas pollution.

UNFCCC

The global treaty adopted in $1992$ at the Rio Earth Summit with the goal of stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.

Kyoto Protocol

An international agreement adopted in $1997$ that set legally binding emission reduction targets for $41$ industrialized nations.

Paris Agreement

A legally binding $2015$ treaty aiming to limit global warming to well below $2\,^{\circ}\text{C}$ while pursuing efforts for a $1.5\,^{\circ}\text{C}$ limit.

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)

Voluntary domestic climate action plans and emission targets set by individual countries under the framework of the Paris Agreement.

Loss and Damage Fund

A specialized financial mechanism established at COP$27$ to provide support to countries most affected by extreme and slow-onset climate impacts.

Carbon Pricing

A financial tool driven by international agreements that places a monetary cost on greenhouse gas emissions to encourage reductions.

Vulnerability

The propensity or likelihood that individuals or populations will be negatively affected by climate-related hazards and changes.

Exposure

The presence of people, infrastructure, or assets in locations that are susceptible to climate-related hazards like floods or extreme heat.

Sensitivity

The degree to which a system or population is affected by climate hazards, often determined by factors like age or underlying health conditions.

Adaptive Capacity

The ability of a population or health system to adjust to potential climate damage, manage consequences, or recover from shocks.

$$485\,\text{ppm}$$

The specific milestone level that global atmospheric $\text{CO}_2$ concentrations reached in January $2025$.

Urban Heat Island

A phenomenon where urban environments experience higher temperature extremes than surrounding areas due to high population and infrastructure density.

Heat Syncope

A heat-related condition characterized by dizziness and fainting due to factors like dehydration, vasodilation, and cardiovascular stress.

Heatstroke

A life-threatening condition involving a very high body temperature, confusion, seizures, or loss of consciousness.

$$512\,\text{billion}$$

The number of potential work hours lost globally in $2023$ due to rising temperatures, representing a $49\,\%$ increase since the $1990\text{s}$.

General Circulation Models (GCMs)

Highly complex numerical models that simulate the physical processes of the Earth's climate system across a three-dimensional grid.

Climate Projections

Scenario-based estimates of future environmental conditions based on specific socioeconomic and greenhouse gas emission pathways.

Remote Sensing

The technology used to detect and monitor the characteristics of an area by measuring reflected or emitted radiation from a distance.

Earth Observation

The collective process of gathering data on the Earth's surface and atmosphere through remote sensing techniques like satellite imaging.

Health National Adaptation Plans (HNAPs)

Strategic frameworks that translate vulnerability assessments into actionable health-focused adaptation objectives at a national level.

Epidemiology

The scientific study of how health-related states or events are distributed and what determinants influence them within populations.

Cross-sectional Survey

An observational study design that assesses the prevalence of outcomes and exposures in a population at a single specific point in time.

Case-Control Study

A research design that compares people with a specific disease to those without it to identify prior exposure factors.

Cohort Study

A longitudinal study that follows a group of individuals over time to determine how specific exposures relate to the development of health outcomes.

Case-Crossover Study

An observational design used to study acute events where each individual serves as their own control by comparing different time periods.

Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)

An experimental study design where subjects are randomly assigned to a treatment or control group to provide strong evidence of causality.