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This series of papers focuses on the health impacts of climate change and the need to prevent them. This volume was prepared ahead of the Conference of the Parties-15 in Copenhagen in December 2009, which met to discuss and decide global action to prevent climate change

This report, produced by the Lancet and University College London Institute for Global Health Commission, focuses on managing the health effects of climate change. It says that climate change is the biggest global-health threat of the 21st century. The commission reviewed the likely health impacts of climate change on human societies - and documented ways to reverse those impacts. It concluded that there is a need for policymakers, practitioners and the public to act urgently on the human health effects of climate change

"The objective of this report is to provide a record of the presentations by invited speakers at the Policy Forum, of the questions and comments by distinguished participants from the floor, and of responses by the main speakers...The main conclusions from the plenary sessions of the Policy Forum can be summarised as follows: 1) focus must still remain on achieving the MDGs; 2) Developing country ownership of the new framework is essential and the approach must therefore be Southern-led; 3) The obligations of the developed countries towards the achievement of the MDGs need clarification; 4) International income and wealth redistribution should be a ‘right’ (‘automatic’ rather than discretionary) including international redistributive taxes; 5) International inequality and its reduction should be given more emphasis; 6) Ethical and moral perspectives need emphasising within a global social justice, rather than a purely indicator-driven, approach; 7) ‘Fragile’ states and global uncertainty need special treatment; 8) The ‘quality’ of MDG achievements, rather than ‘quantities’, needs emphasising; 9) The science and technology capacity of developing countries is critically important; 10) Processes which deliver the quantitative indicators (MDGs) require more emphasis - such as Global Governance. 11) Serious research is needed to ensure the debate is well informed"