Page - 2 - in Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change

2 conservation. This book identifies the contribution of biodiversity to physical, men- tal and spiritual health and  well-being in the face of climate change, and considers implications across multiple sectors. Keywords Climate change · Biodiversity · Health · Nature-based solutions · Nature conservation · Interdisciplinarity Highlights • Climate change poses significant challenges to both human health and biodiversity. • Green spaces can improve human health and well-being, and mitigate biodiver- sity loss. • The inter-relationships of biodiversity to human physical, mental and spiritual aspects of health and well-being are not yet well understood. • There is great potential for synergies between public health, climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation. 1.1 Background Climate change poses significant challenges to human health and biodiversity. Increased numbers of heat waves, droughts and flooding events due to climate change have negative consequences for both human health and biodiversity (EEA 2016, Box 1.1). The 2003 summer  heat wave  in Europe gave rise to 70,000 deaths, both directly through temperature stress and indirectly by affecting air quality and respiratory systems  (Wolf et  al. 2015). The most vulnerable people in society  – the elderly, those with chronic diseases and persons of lower socio-economic status  – are often most affected. While susceptibility varies geographically and among groups, studies show that an increase of 1  °C in temperature above local comfort Box 1.1: Definitions of Health, Climate Change and Biodiversity Health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO 1948). Climate change is “any change in climate over time, resulting from natu- ral variability or human activity” (IPCC 2007). Biodiversity is “the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems” (United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity 1992). (For further definitions, see the Glossary, this volume). M. R. Marselle et al.