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Human and animal health: From Virchow and Osler to the threat of a four degree world

Prof Colin D Butler Australian Veterinarians in Public Health Workshop 2016

Adelaide May 27, 2016

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Overview

One Health and Ecohealth: broad and narrow

Complexity – emergence – ecosystem distress disorder

Climate change – birds, bats, marine life (seagrass, corals, fish, oysters, mangroves…)

Three warnings

What can we do? 2

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From "one medicine" to "one health" and systemic approaches to health and

well-being.

Zinsstag J, Schelling E, Waltner-Toews D, Tanner M. Prev Vet Med. 2011

“Faced with complex patterns of global change, the inextricable interconnection of humans, pet animals, livestock and wildlife and their social and ecological environment is evident and requires integrated approaches”

3

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1821–1902)

1821-1902

Sir William Osler: 1849-1919

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5

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Towards a 4 degree world

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https://robertscribbler.com/2016/05/16/nasa-world-just-had-seven-months-straight-of-record-shattering-global-heat/record-atmospheric-carbon-dioxide-levels/

CRICOS #00212Khttp://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/service/global/map-percentile-mntp/201604.gif

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http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/16/april-third-month-in-row-to-break-global-temperature-records?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+AUS+v1+-+AUS+morning+mail+callout&utm_term=172529&subid=7792814&CMP=ema_632

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May 17, 2016

June 27, 1982

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Credits: Dave/Flickr Creative Commons/CC BY 2.0http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/new-nasa-web-portal-shines-beacon-on-rising-seas/#

Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Florida

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Kevin Arrow, a volunteer with the Miami High Water Line project, explains sea level rise to onlookers in Miami Beach, Fla. (Courtesy Jayme Gershen/High Water Line)https://weather.com/science/environment/news/miami-flooding-increase-over-past-decade

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http://www.aegic.org.au/media/news/2016/02/new-australian-climate-developing.aspx

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http://www.aegic.org.au/media/news/2016/02/new-australian-climate-developing.aspx

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Ecosystem distress disorder

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Inbreeding?Pesticides?Coincidence?Multiple interacting factors?

McGlashan N, Obendorf D, Harington J. Aspects of the fatal malignant disease among the Tasmanian devil population (Sarcophilus laniarius). European Journal of Oncology. 2006;11(2):95-102.

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Mucormycosis

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Body shrinkage due to Arctic warming reduces red knot fitness in tropical wintering range

Van Gils et al, May 2016

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Van Gils et al, 2016

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Earlier snowmelt

less mass

shorter bills

Van Gils et al, 2016

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Out of reach

Van Gils et al, 2016

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“Birds, unable to bear the heat, have (in) great numbers, dropped from the trees and expired” (Richard Johnson, 1791)

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2009

2010

Feeling the heat: Australian landbirds and climate change McKechnie et al

1932

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The impact of high temperatures on foraging behaviour and body

condition in the Western Australian Magpie

Cracticus tibicen dorsalisEdwards et al, 2015

Too much heat: bad for magpies

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Welbergen et al: Climate change and the effects of temperature

extremes on Australian flying-foxes. Proc Royal Soc London B: Biological Sciences. 2008

Too much heat: bad for flying foxes .. sheep .. people .. old cats and dogs?

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“Marine heatwaves threaten the future of underwater forests” Wernberg and Smales, 2015

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https://theconversation.com/marine-heatwaves-threaten-the-future-of-underwater-forests-37154

> 2°C above normal for ten weeks (La Niña)

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warning

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https://theconversation.com/marine-heatwaves-threaten-the-future-of-underwater-forests-37154

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Two victims of the 2011 marine heat wave (photos: Thomas Wernberg (a) and Belinda Cannell(b)https://theconversation.com/marine-heatwaves-threaten-the-future-of-underwater-forests-37154

Blue swimmer crabs little penguins

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Clown fish vivid against bleached coral, Great Barrier reef. Photograph: CoralWatch

principal causes of decline: “catchment pollutant runoff associated with agricultural and urban land uses, climate change impacts and the effects of fishing” (“Ecosystem health of the Great Barrier Reef: Time for effective

management action based on evidence” Brodie and Pearson, in press)

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http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/27/australia-scrubbed-from-un-climate-change-report-after-government-intervention

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‘Heart wrenching’: India’s coral reefs experiencing widespread bleaching, scientist says11th May 2016 / Shreya Dasgupta

Rohan Arthur .. heads reef program at Nature Conservation Foundation, based in Mysore, India. Arthur’s team has been surveying coral reefs in the Lakshadweep Archipelago and documenting the corals’ bleaching and recovery.

https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/indias-coral-reefs-experiencing-catastrophic-bleaching-heart-wrenching-scientist-says/

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“Mangrove heart attacks”

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April 22, 20164.5 deg riseOysters, salmon, abalone and kelp stress

sea urchins, moving down coast... eating kelp, leaving rocky urchin barrens that rock lobsters & other organisms avoid .. larvae

survive at 12 deg, as winter temps reach that 12 threshold, more survive.

CRICOS #00212Khttp://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2016/04/drought-suicide-india-water-train-160413110837251.html

Maharashtra, India 2016: cattle fodder camp (1 of 327)300,000 cattle being fed this way

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“bee overload” – another example of ecosystem distress

disorder?

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“we are losing colonies in summer too, when bees should be doing so well,” said Dennis van Engelsdorp, a University of Maryland bee scientist and survey leader. “This suggests there is something more going on – bees may be the canary in the coalmine of bigger environmental problems”

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Four warnings

U Thant (UN Sec General), Pope Paul VI *2, the governor of the Bank of England

Alberta, Canada, May 2016

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I do not wish to seem overdramatic, but I can only conclude from the information that is available to me as Secretary General, that the Members of the United Nations have perhaps ten years left in which to subordinate their ancient quarrels and launch a global partnership to curb the arms race, to improve the human environment, to defuse the population explosion, and to supply the required momentum to development efforts.

If such a global partnership is not forged within the next decade, then I very much fear that the problems I have mentioned will have reached such staggering proportions that they will be beyond our capacity to control.

U THANT, 1969 UN Secretary General

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ENCYCLICAL LETTER LAUDATO SI’OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCISON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME (24/5/2015)

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1987: “The Brundtland Commission”

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Laudato Si

In 1971, .. Blessed Pope Paul VI referred to the ecological

concern as “a tragic consequence” of unchecked human

activity: “Due to an ill-considered exploitation of nature,

humanity runs the risk of destroying it and becoming in

turn a victim of this degradation”.

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“the most amazing technical abilities, the most

astonishing economic growth, unless they are

accompanied by authentic social and moral progress,

will definitively turn against man”

Pope Paul VI, 1970

Address to FAO on the 25th Anniversary of its Institution (16 November 1970),

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The far-sighted amongst you are anticipating

broader global impacts on property, migration and

political stability, as well as food and water security.

… Past is not prologue … the catastrophic

norms of the future can be seen in the tail

risks of today.

Mark Carney, 2015

(Governor of the

Bank of England)

Carney M. Breaking the tragedy of the horizon – climate change and financial stability. http://wwwbankofenglandcouk/publications/Pages/speeches/2015/844aspx

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solar power costs have dropped from $US100 a watt to US45¢

a watt since 1970, a period when other forms of energy have

surged in price 16-fold. That means solar's relative cost per

unit of energy production has reduced by 1300 times relative

to coal, to 3000 times relative to natural gas and nuclear, he

says.

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https://australia.breakfree2016.org/

Break free from coal

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What are the best ways in which to successfully communicate with livestock producers about climate change, and what are the most important messages that we need to convey?Water, heat warnings, shade?How can we contribute to conveying the messages surrounding climate change to the general public?Show our sincere concernHow can we best convey information to those who are climate change sceptics?Deep and respectful listening unless they are zealots in which case ignore them!

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If livestock producers were choosing what changes to implement, what small or incremental changes could result in the biggest impacts?

Farmers are conservative and most have been slow to accept reality of climate change – in turn this has slowed our national response.

What do you think the responsibilities of veterinarians and other health professionals are in regards to contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation?

Leadership in partnership.

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What steps can we as health professionals take to get involved in climate change mitigation?

Groups such as DEA

What steps can we as health professionals take to get involved in climate change adaptation?

Ok as long as not at cost of mitigation – heat, other?

In what ways can we best collaborate to generate beneficial one health outcomes within climate change science?

Mutual respect, grant applications, joint publications

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What is the best way for veterinarians to stay up to date on the latest in climate change science?SIGs, Facebook, twitterWhat resources are available for livestock producers to learn about climate change and to deal with the consequences (i.e. to make changes – new technology, etc.)? Social media?We have focussed on impacts upon livestock, but do you think there will be significant impacts on companion animals and or zoo animals? Yes, especially where under-resourcedHow are climate change impacts on wild animals likely to impact domestic animals and/or human health – e.g. emerging diseases, change in animal ranges, etc.? Plausible, including bat-borne

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Where should the focus for research be in terms of climate change and animal health and/or one health implications?

Sounding the alarm to drive mitigation, finding alternatives (adaptation – eg marine), reducing identifiable co-factors

What is the single most pressing issue in terms of animal and/or human health in regards to the impacts of climate change – i.e. what is going to have the greatest impact in the short term?

Heat warnings and mitigation

Can making small management changes benefit individual farmers (e.g. in productivity, profit, etc.), or is change required on a large scale to make any impact (i.e. change is for the collective good)? Both?