Climate change and human health in the Asia Pacific region: who will be most vulnerable?

Self-organising systems adapt to environmental change, and this ability mod ulates the relationship between specific exposures and outcomes. Vulnerabil ity can be thought of as the sensitivity of the system to multiple exposure s, taking into account the system's ability to adapt. This paper describes 5 causes of vulnerability to climate change in the Asia Pacific region: des tructive growth, poverty, political rigidity, dependency and isolation. Imp overished populations are always at greater risk because they have fewer ch oices. However, rapid increases in population size, density of settlement a nd use of natural resources may also compromise responsiveness by damaging the buffering capacity of ecological systems against environmental adversit y. Public health depends on a responsive social order. Political rigidity m ay have contributed to recent, severe impacts of climate-related disasters in parts of Asia. Dependency (such as reliance on others for information) i s a potent cause of vulnerability because it justifies fatalism. Geographic ally isolated countries are tied firmly to international fortunes by the in creased mobility of people and goads. Tn these modern circumstances remoten ess may be a liability. Vulnerability to climate change win be shaped by ma ny factors, but effects on health will undoubtedly be most severe in popula tions that are already marginal. For these populations, climate change is o ne further cause of 'over-load'. The problem of human-induced climate chang e is global in extent and is long term, but that should not deter policy-ma kers-measures taken to reduce the future impact of climate change will brin g other benefits sooner.