US EPA

EPA has announced the final report entitled, Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.6: Analyses of the Effects of Global Change on Human Health and Welfare and Human Systems . This Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.6 (SAP 4.6) focuses on impacts of global climate change, especially impacts on three broad dimensions of the human condition: human health, human settlements, and human welfare.

Climate change, interacting with changes in land use and demographics, will affect important human dimensions in the United States, especially those related to human health, settlements and welfare. The challenges presented by population growth, an aging population, migration patterns, and urban and coastal development will be compounded by changes in temperature, precipitation, and extreme climate-related events. Climate change will affect where people choose to live, work, and play. Among likely climate changes are changes in the intensity and frequency of precipitation, more frequent heat waves, less frequent cold waves, more persistent and extreme drought conditions and associated water shortages, changes in minimum and maximum temperatures, potential increases in the intensity and frequency of extreme tropical storms, measurable sea-level rise and increases in the occurrence of coastal and riverine flooding. In response to these anticipated changes, the United States may develop and deploy strategies for mitigating greenhouse gases and for adapting to unavoidable individual and collective impacts of climate change.

The SAP 4.6 focuses on impacts of global climate change, especially impacts on three broad dimensions of the human condition: human health, human settlements, and human welfare. The assessment examines potential impacts of climate change on human society, opportunities for adaptation, and associated recommendations for addressing data gaps and near- and long-term research goals.

SAP 4.6 complies with the requirements of the Global Change Research Act of 1990. The implementation of this Act is under the the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP), the forerunner to the U.S. Global Change Research Program, to which EPA is a partner agency. There are 21 mandated SAPs, with NCEA's Global Change Assessment Staff taking the lead on this report.

The goal of this report is to provide factual information on the impacts of environmental change on human health, human welfare, and human settlements to public health authorities and other public planning and resource management entities to allow for well-coordinated responses to the impacts of global change.

This is the final report.

USGCRP. Analyses of the Effects of Global Change on Human Health and Welfare and Human Systems (SAP 4.6). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., 2008.