As a human-generated and worldwide process, global climate change is a qual- itatively distinct and very significant addition to the spectrum of environmental health hazards encountered by humankind. Historically, environmental health concerns have focused on toxicological or microbiological risks to health from local exposures. However, the scale of environmental health problems is increas- ing and various larger-scale environmental hazards to human population health have begun to appear. Appreciation of this scale and type of influence on human health entails an ecological perspective. This perspective recognises that the foundations of long- term good health in populations reside in the continued stability and function- ing of the biosphere’s life-supporting ecological and physical.
