UNEP Outlook - 60% Of Global Fish Stocks Collapsing, 2 Billion Face Absolute Water Scarcity By 2050

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According to the outlook, 60 per cent of global fish stocks have collapsed and about 40 per cent are falling precipitously, increasing the risk of starvation for people who depend on them. Fresh water? Availability per person has plummeted. Three million people die of water-related diseases each year. By 2050, close to two billion people may face "absolute" water scarcity. There's more. More than 75,000 people a year are killed by natural disasters, and on it goes.

A draft of the upcoming IPCC's "synthesis report", obtained by Weekend Health, adds to the list: increased risk of heat-related mortality; deaths by drowning, injuries and infections, respiratory, insect-borne and skin diseases; post-traumatic stress disorder, malnutrition, food- and water-borne diseases, cardiovascular disease, and on and on. Finally, as reported this week in The Australian, McMichael's report puts it all into an Australian context. It predicts we will suffer more food poisoning and insect-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria.

As Harsant suggests, depression will rise; so too will obesity, as outdoor activity becomes more difficult or dangerous. More heatwaves will cause up to three times more deaths from heart attacks, strokes and respiratory disease by 2050.

It's enough to make health officials, politicians and decision-makers throw up their hands in despair, the policy equivalent of Hanrahan's "we'll all be rooned". Not so, claims McMichael: "We can take actions to lessen those risks, especially to the most vulnerable." To that end, he and his team offer strategies for adapting to the new environmental order. Some are as obvious as getting the word out to the public about how to cope with, for instance, heatwaves and outbreaks of infectious diseases.

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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22688587-23289,00.html