The field of climate-related system failures and public health vulnerabilities has gained significant attention over the past decade, particularly following the insights of the late climate scholar Anthony McMichael. McMichael highlighted the complex interplay between human-induced climatic changes and various environmental, demographic, and social stressors that impact regional food yields, nutrition, and health. These systemic pressures can lead to increased population vulnerability, the emergence of new zoonotic diseases, and disruptive population migrations. Despite international efforts such as the 2015 Paris Agreement and the 2022 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27), critical questions remain unanswered. These include whether population vulnerability is deepening, becoming more inequitable, and whether current adaptation and mitigation strategies are sufficient to address these vulnerabilities. Recent studies have begun to explore these issues, but there remains a significant gap in understanding the full scope of climate-induced system failures and their public health implications. This gap underscores the need for more comprehensive research to develop effective strategies for adaptation and mitigation.
This research topic aims to gather a series of papers that characterize the nature of potential or actual system disruptions and estimate the public health-related vulnerabilities resulting from such failures. The primary objective is to address specific climate-related system failures and emerging public health vulnerabilities, as well as to explore strategies within public health and health systems to adapt to or mitigate these effects. Key questions include identifying the most pressing vulnerabilities, understanding the mechanisms driving these vulnerabilities, and evaluating the effectiveness of current strategies in addressing them.
To gather further insights into the complex interplay between climate-related system failures and public health vulnerabilities, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Emerging vulnerabilities as a result of population migration/displacement
- Emerging vulnerabilities due to lowered water tables, drought, or sea level rise
- Emerging vulnerabilities from massively altered food systems (agriculture/aquaculture)
- Emerging vulnerabilities due to misinformation and disinformation about climate effects
- Emerging vulnerabilities stemming from political instability or insufficient political commitment
- Emerging vulnerabilities due to pressures on public health and health systems
We acknowledge the funding of some manuscripts published in this Research Topic by New York University (NYU). We hereby state publicly that NYU has had no editorial input in articles included in this Research Topic, thus ensuring that all aspects of this Research Topic are evaluated objectively, and unbiased by any specific policy or opinion of NYU.
Keywords: Climate emergency, public health, health systems, environmental stressors, social stressors, demographic stressors
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
