Health professionals have backed a Climate Commission report that warns of the threat to the young and old of a warmer planet. By Cathy Wever.

Climate change has implications we are only beginning to truly comprehend. While natural resource depletion and environmental degradation are much discussed consequences of global warming, the serious threat to human health caused by climate change has received less of the spotlight. Until now. In a recent major report, The Climate Commission paints a grim picture of the impact climate change will have on Australians' health. Released in November 2011, The Critical Decade: Climate Change and Health forecasts significant impacts including an increase in the incidence and spread of infectious...