September 18, 2019, by lzzeb

Global health, water and climate change

A blog by Simon Gosling

Earlier this summer I attended the “Cross-sectoral ISIMIP Workshop 2019” in Paris, France. It was organised by the Intersectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP), which is led by the Postdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. ISIMIP is a research community-driven initiative aimed at using models to understand the risks posed by climate change on the natural environment and society, including the associated uncertainties.

I have been involved with ISIMIP for around a decade and for several years I’ve been one of the coordinators of the global water sector modelling group. In this group we run global-scale models that simulate the flows of the Earth’s major rivers to explore how flood risk, water security and droughts may play out in the future in response to changing population and future climate. The workshop was an excellent opportunity to discuss a number of future plans, including how we should represent adaptation to future climate change in our models, e.g. through the inclusion of water storage infrastructure and flood attenuation methods.

I also participate in the health sector of ISIMIP. On the last day of the workshop we held a meeting at The Institut Pasteur. We discussed progress in the group towards improving understanding of the health risks posed by climate change, including heat-related mortality, vector-borne diseases, and reductions in labour productivity.

Thank you to the School of Geography at University of Nottingham and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) for funding my attendance.

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