Past, present and future of the climate and human health commission

Abstract

The following paper presents the history of the Climate and Human Health Commission at the International Society of Biometeorology after more than one decade since its creation. A brief history of the origins of the human biometeorology is revealed through some of the main research topics and publications of the founders of the society in this field. Secondly, it is presented as a brief review of the activities of the commission in the last 10 years, based on the reports that have periodically been submitted by members of the commission to the Bulletin of the society. A summary of the topics of interest on human biometeorology and the most frequent research topics are also described. Thirdly, the need of adapting human biometeorology contents, methods and techniques to a changing world is articulated according to some of the new environmental threats in the XXI century. Finally, a list of future actions and research lines collected through a form from members of the commission is presented. The paper concludes with the existence of great challenge for human biometeorology in order to transform biometeorological knowledge into specific services to improve the wellbeing of human beings.

Keywords: Biometeorology; Biophysics; Climate services; Early warning systems; Global change; Thermal comfort.