Festival of Science: Climate change will do much more than alter our weather. It will lead to wars over water, mass population movements and deliver a new mix of infectious diseases - all of this likely to affect us in the coming century.
The grim reality of our changing planet will be put this morning to people attending the 2006 British Association (BA) for the Advancement of Science's annual Festival of Science.
The festival, which takes place this year in Norwich, England, offers an engaging week of talks, demonstrations and entertainment with science and research at their core.
It is the biggest event of its kind in Europe and gives the public a chance to learn about research being conducted by some of the world's leading scientists. Importantly, it also allows people to put questions to these same scientists and expect answers in jargon-free language.
The bleak prospects for a world in the throes of climate change were raised by the University of East Anglia's professor of health protection, Prof Paul Hunter.
He describes in particular the changes we can expect in the incidence of infectious diseases.
"Although the direct threat from climate-related infectious diseases is likely to be limited to food and water-borne diseases, mass migration of peoples displaced from developing nations that are more severely affected is likely to have a far greater impact, causing a rise in cases of diseases like tuberculosis and HIV," Prof Hunter believes.
Hotter summers will of course accelerate bacterial growth rates in food, thus causing more incidences of food poisoning. Moreover, diminished water supplies may lead to more hepatitis A, cholera and malaria.
He describes as "particularly notable", reports of wound infections in Germany caused by Vibrio vulnificus, a marine organism that is problematic in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Incidence of Cryptosporidium and the dangerous E coli O157:H7 in the UK and Canada, as a result of heavy rainfall and associated flooding, is also a worry, Prof Hunter said.
The president of the BA and chair of Britain's Economic and Social Research Council Frances Cairncross, will pick up the climate change theme in her address this morning.
Policies that prepare the world to adapt to climate change are just as important as efforts to mitigate its effects, she believes.
"We cannot relocate the Amazon or insulate coral reefs, and so we need mitigation too. But the government could and should put in place an adaptation strategy right away," she will say.
Her presidential address comes 35 years after her father, Sir Alec Cairncross, gave his address as BA president and is the first time that a father and daughter have held this position.
The BA Festival this year includes more than 600 events, talks and exhibitions involving over 300 scientists and engineers.
It takes place all week until Saturday September 9th, and the organisers expect public attendances to reach 30,000, including 5,000 young people.
The presentations during the week range from the serious to the downright entertaining.
Subjects up for discussion include why our brains are so inclined to believe in magic, a discussion about the trillions of microbes resident inside us, how to clean up the environment using enzymes, and how climate change affected human evolution.
The Irish Times will provide daily coverage from the event all through the week.
