The Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, Swiss Re and the United Nations Development Programme present the findings from Climate Change Futures: Health, Ecological and Economic Dimensions. Climate Change Futures (CCF) is a three-year project by The Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School that examines the health, ecological and economic risks of climate instability. CCF is supported by Swiss Re and the United Nations Development Programme. The Climate Change Futures: Health, Ecological and Economic Dimensions (CCF) project examined the physical and health risks of climate instability. CCF was a three-year effort by the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, and was supported by Swiss Re and the United Nations Development Programme. Findings of the study were presented November 1, 2005, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Some responses to CCF “Climate Change Futures should be required reading for all: policy makers, business leaders, concerned citizens. It offers a deeply knowledgable analysis of the complex linkages of climate and human well-being, showing in case after case how man-made climate change poses deep and often little-recognized risks to every aspect of our lives: health, food production, extreme weather, economic productivity. The effects of human action on the climate may well prove to be highly non-linear, with abrupt and highly adverse effects on global ecosystems. So too the effects of these ecological changes on human well-being may prove to be non-linear, with seemingly small strains on ecosystems in fact throwing our societies into deep crises, even violent conflict, as we face crop failures, disease pandemics, and other natural hazards. The risks of future climate change are skillfully examined by the authors in a series of fascinating and eye-opening scenarios and case studies. In sum, Climate Change Futures demands our attention, and our action, to head off or at least reduce the serious risks that lie ahead. Kudos to the Center for Health and the Global Environment of the Harvard Medical School, the United Nations Development Programme, and Swiss Re, for this important contribution.” Jeffrey Sachs, Ph.D. Director, Earth Institute at Columbia University “Climate Change Futures is a must-read for all decision makers and all people who care about the future we leave for our children. The report presents the real-world implications of a warming world for our health, our economy, our businesses, and our environment. May this report be the Silent Spring of the 21st century – the futures presented here are futures we must avoid.” Walter V. Reid, Ph.D. Director, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment “By far the best and clearest document on the least recognized environmental priority of our time. A dynamite job.” Thomas Lovejoy, Ph.D. President, The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment “This is an impressive and very thorough piece of work. It makes a valuable contribution to improving further our understanding of the seriousness and diverse nature of the problems we face from climate change.” Sir David King Sc.D. FRS. Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government and Head of the Office of Science and Technology “The Climate Change Futures report is of immediate value for the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC wherein the impacts of climate change would be an extremely important component.” R. K. Pachauri, Ph.D. Director-General, The Energy and Resources Institute Chair, IPCC
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