More than 200 scientific journals dedicated to health demand in a jointly published statement that the UN and political leaders and health professionals around the world “recognize that climate change and biodiversity loss are an indivisible crisis and must addressed together to preserve health and avoid a catastrophe. “This general environmental crisis is now so serious that it constitutes a global health emergency,” warn those responsible for these magazines in a joint editorial article published on October 25.
The joint petition has been published, among many others, by top scientific journals such as The Lancet, BMJ and JAMA. The content of this statement and its impact on social networks can be followed with the callsign
The content of this declaration stands out for calling for a global response to the climate crisis and the crisis of nature expressed in problems such as the loss of biological diversity (extinction of species), also understanding that this double problem cannot be treated in a geographically isolated manner. but globally, since it poses a threat to the entire planet and human health in general.
Text of the declaration (original in English, unofficial translation):
“The world is currently responding to the climate crisis and the nature crisis as if they were separate challenges. This is a dangerous mistake. The 28th Conference of the Parties (COP) on climate change will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates United, from November 30 to December 12, 2023, while the 16th COP on biodiversity will be held in Türkiye in 2024. Unfortunately, the communities that provide evidence for the two COPs are largely separate, but they came together to a workshop in 2020 when they concluded that: ‘Only by considering climate and biodiversity as parts of the same complex problem can solutions be developed that avoid maladaptation and maximize beneficial outcomes.’
As the international health community has recognized with the development of the concept of planetary health, the natural world is made up of an overall interdependent system. Damage to one subsystem can create feedback that damages another; For example, drought, wildfires, floods and other effects of rising global temperatures destroy plant life and cause soil erosion and therefore inhibit carbon storage, which means more global warming. Climate change is expected to surpass deforestation and other land use changes as the main driver of nature loss.
Nature has a remarkable power to restore. For example, deforested land can be converted back into forests through natural regeneration, and marine phytoplankton, which acts as a natural carbon store, generates one billion tonnes of photosynthetic biomass every eight days. Indigenous land and sea management has a particularly important role in the regeneration and continued care of nature.
Restoring one subsystem can help another; For example, replenishing soil could help remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere on a large scale. But actions that may benefit one subsystem may harm another; For example, planting forests with one type of tree may remove carbon dioxide from the air, but may harm biodiversity that is critical to healthy ecosystems.
Human health is directly harmed by both the climate crisis, as scientific journals have described in previous statements, and by the nature crisis. This indivisible planetary crisis will have significant health effects as a result of disrupted social and economic systems: scarcity of land, housing, food and water, exacerbating poverty, which in turn will lead to mass migration and conflict. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, air pollution and the spread of infectious diseases are some of the major health threats exacerbated by climate change. “Without nature, we have nothing,” was the forceful summary of the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, at the COP on biodiversity in Montreal, Canada, in 2022.
Even if we could keep global warming below a 1.5°C rise above pre-industrial levels, we could still cause catastrophic health damage by destroying nature.
Access to drinking water is essential for human health, yet pollution has damaged water quality, causing an increase in waterborne diseases.
Water pollution on land can also have far-reaching effects on distant ecosystems when that water runs off into the ocean.
Good nutrition is underpinned by food diversity, but there has been a striking loss of genetic diversity in the food system. Globally, around a fifth of people depend on wild species for their food and livelihood.
Wildlife decline is a major challenge for these populations, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Fish provides more than half of dietary protein in many African, South Asian and small island nations, but ocean acidification has reduced the quality and quantity of seafood.
Changes in land use have forced tens of thousands of species into closer contact, increasing the exchange of pathogens and the emergence of new diseases and pandemics.
Loss of contact with the natural environment and loss of biodiversity have been linked to increases in non-communicable, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and metabolic, allergic and neuropsychiatric disorders.
For indigenous people, caring for and connecting with nature is especially important for their health.
Nature has also been an important source of medicines and therefore reducing biodiversity also limits the discovery of new medicines.
Communities are healthier if they have access to high-quality green spaces that help filter air pollution, reduce air and soil temperatures, and provide opportunities for physical activity.
Connecting with nature reduces stress, loneliness and depression while promoting social interaction. These benefits are threatened by the continued increase in urbanization.
Finally, the health impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss will be experienced unevenly between and within countries, with the most vulnerable communities often bearing the greatest burden.
Relatedly, one could say that inequality is also fueling these environmental crises. Environmental challenges and social and health inequalities are challenges that share factors and there are potential collateral benefits to addressing them.
It is time to treat the climate and natural crisis as a global health emergency. In December 2022, the Biodiversity COP agreed to conserve and effectively manage at least 30% of the world’s land, coastal zones and oceans by 2030. Industrialized countries agreed to mobilize $30 billion a year to help low- and middle-income nations to do so.
These agreements reflect the promises made at the climate COPs. However, many commitments made at the COPs have not been fulfilled. This has allowed ecosystems to be pushed even further to the limit, greatly increasing the risk of reaching tipping points, that is, abrupt interruptions in the functioning of nature. If these events were to occur, the health impacts would be catastrophic globally.
This risk, combined with the serious health impacts already occurring, means that the WHO should declare the indivisible climate and natural crisis a global health emergency. The three preconditions for the WHO to declare a situation a Public Health Emergency of International Concern are that it is serious, sudden, unusual or unexpected; has public health implications beyond the national borders of the affected state; and may require immediate international action. Climate change would seem to meet all of those conditions. While the acceleration of climate change and biodiversity loss is neither sudden nor unexpected, it is certainly severe and unusual. We therefore call on WHO to make this declaration before or during the 77th World Health Assembly in May 2024.
To address this emergency, it is necessary to harmonize COP processes. As a first step, the respective conventions should promote better integration of national climate plans with biodiversity equivalents. As the 2020 workshop that brought together climate and nature scientists concluded: “Critical leverage points include exploring alternative visions of good quality of life, rethinking consumption and waste, changing values ??related to the relationship between human and nature, reduce inequalities and promote education and learning. All this would benefit health.
Health professionals must be powerful advocates for both restoring biodiversity and fighting climate change for the sake of health. Political leaders must recognize both the serious health threats posed by the planetary crisis and the health benefits that can accrue from addressing the crisis. But first, we must recognize this crisis for what it is: a global health emergency.
