The Briefing

At the Public Health Congress in Auckland last week, one of us presented on potential public health endgames – partly to inform thinking around the tobacco endgame in New Zealand (the Smokefree Nation Goal for 2025). This blog considers what additional endgames this country could be bolder about tackling.

Professor Alistair Woodward, epidemiologist and climate change expert. Alistair was Convening Lead Author of Chapter 11 (Human Health) in the 5th IPCC Assessment Report. Here he discusses the report.

The 2014 edition of the “Climate Change Performance Index” has just been released by Climate Action Network Europe and Germanwatch. This blog post looks at some of the details and considers what NZ could be aiming for if it is to be a responsible “international citizen”.

It’s official, this was the warmest winter ever recorded for New Zealand according to NIWA scientists. Continuing warming of the planet may pose significant risks of run-away climate change and catastrophic levels of damage to human civilisation – a public health threat on a scale larger than we usually consider.