2010
Author(s): May E, Baiardi L, Kara E, Raichand S, Eshareturi C
This study utilises the latest climate change projections for the West Midlands Administrative Region to predict the likely effects of changing temperature and precipitation on human health in the region over the Twenty First Century. Given the resources available the study as a whole should be viewed as a scoping report, highlighting where future work is required. However, this summary of future health effects is sufficiently detailed to help shape climate change adaptation strategies in the West Midlands. In particular this document will help stakeholders understand how health inequalities could worsen due to changes in our climate. It will inform action that ensures adaptation measures are developed to protect the health of the most deprived in our society. Each chapter of this technical report includes a literature review of past trends and an assessment (with projections where data were available) of the extent of each health effect under future climate change in the West Midlands. Suggestions for adaptation are made where appropriate but the primary aim is to provide baseline information on the health effects of climate change within the West Midlands so that adaptation and mitigation strategies can be decided in the future. Specific recommendations are stated at the beginning of each chapter and these are also collected in a chapter on recommendations at the end of the report. In this report, the West Midlands Region refers to the West Midlands Government Office region rather than the metropolitan region.