What does it mean to consider the climate and nature crisis a “global emergency”?
While world leaders focus on confronting the consequences of climate change, there is another crisis that is closely related to it, but does not receive the same attention: biodiversity loss. While the phenomenon of climate change has worsened in recent years, as a result of human activities that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which cause heat retention, the crisis of biodiversity loss, which has led to a decline in the diversity of living organisms and biological communities on Earth, is due to many factors, including Introduction: climate change, overfishing, habitat degradation, and pollution.
In an effort to highlight this issue, more than 200 health journals around the world have issued a call to world leaders and health professionals urging them to recognize that climate change and biodiversity loss represent one indivisible crisis that must be addressed together to maintain health and avoid disasters.
The researchers said in an editorial published in journals, most notably the British Medical Journal, The Lancet, the Australian Medical Journal, the East African Medical Journal, and the Indian National Medical Journal, that it is a “serious mistake” to respond to the climate crisis and the nature crisis as if they were two separate challenges.
They launched a petition calling on the World Health Organization to declare this indivisible crisis a global public health emergency at the World Health Assembly in May 2024.
Global emergency
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Chris Zielinski, chief advisor to the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change and one of the participants in the call, said: “We have been wasting time, energy and resources in addressing the effects of climate change on health and those resulting from the loss of biodiversity as separate problems.” ». He adds: “Climate change and loss of biodiversity represent one problem and it is better to deal with them together.” This means that the separate series of UN conferences should be merged into one common UN conference.”
Regarding the specific conditions for considering the climate and natural crisis a global emergency, Zelensky explained that there are 3 conditions for the World Health Organization to declare a situation as a public health emergency of international concern: The first is that the crisis be serious, sudden, unusual, or unexpected, the second is that it has public health implications outside the national borders of the affected state, and finally, it may require immediate international action.
Regarding the fulfillment of these conditions in relation to the climate and nature crisis, he said: “Is climate change and the loss of biodiversity dangerous? Yes, of course. Is it surprising? Well, in the last few years it has suddenly become worse. Is it unusual/unexpected? “We don’t normally expect humanity to slide into oblivion, and for people who have been skeptical about the reality of climate change, this must be very unusual and unexpected.”
He added that with regard to the second and third conditions, it was certain that climate change and biodiversity had public health implications beyond national borders, and also required immediate international action.
He pointed out that the World Health Organization may wish to establish separate rules governing emergencies resulting from disease outbreaks and epidemics on the one hand, and climate change and biodiversity on the other hand, and we call for discussing this matter at the next session of the World Health Assembly in May 2024, noting that “ A public petition to this effect has been published on the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change website, which we invite everyone to sign.”
Kamran Abbasi, editor-in-chief of the British Medical Journal, says the climate crisis and loss of biodiversity are harming human health, and they are interconnected. That’s why we must consider them both and declare a global health emergency. It makes no sense for climate scientists, naturalists and politicians to view the health and nature crises in separate silos.
He adds: “Health workers enjoy great trust from the public, and they have a central role to play in clarifying this important message, and calling on politicians to recognize the global health emergency and take urgent action to address it.”
Direct effects
In the editorial, the researchers wrote that human health is being directly harmed by the climate and nature crises, with the poorest and most vulnerable communities often bearing the brunt.
Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, air pollution and the spread of infectious diseases are among the major health threats exacerbated by climate change.
For example, access to clean water is essential to human health, but pollution has harmed water quality, leading to a rise in water-borne diseases, and ocean acidification has reduced the quality and quantity of seafood on which billions of people depend for food and livelihoods. Loss of biodiversity also undermines good nutrition and restricts the discovery of new medicines derived from nature.
The researchers noted that communities enjoy better health if they have access to high-quality green spaces that help reduce air pollution, lower air and land temperatures, and provide opportunities for physical activity. Connecting with nature reduces stress, loneliness, and depression while enhancing social interaction. .
“The climate crisis has had an impact on the environmental and social determinants of health across Africa, leading to devastating health impacts,” Zielinski says. Impacts on health can result directly from environmental shocks, and indirectly through social impacts.”
Risks associated with climate change in Africa include floods, droughts, heatwaves, reduced food production and reduced labor productivity.
Ways to mitigate the effects
Zelensky believes that the most effective way to alleviate these crises is to work to ensure that the rise in temperatures slows down. This includes radically reducing the greenhouse gases we release into the atmosphere. We are moving beyond the Paris Agreement target of keeping temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“We will have to protect people and ensure greater access to cooling systems, drinking water and other mechanisms to escape the heat,” he adds. There is a risk that this will become a geographic problem, as parts of the world become uninhabitable.
