Climate Change is a Health Crisis, Declare 123 Countries in a First at COP28 – News18

As many as 123 countries endorsed a long-awaited Declaration on Climate and Health at COP28, marking the first time governments acknowledged the deleterious impacts of climate change on the health of communities worldwide. India is not a signatory to the pact even though it showcased its commitment to integrating climate and health agenda under its G20 Presidency this year.

The announcement comes just ahead of the first-ever Health Day at the UN Summit and includes $1 billion financing for climate and health. Healthcare professionals across countries have been rallying for years to make health an integral agenda at the UN Climate summits, more so after the devastating impacts Covid-19 pandemic. It is also the first time that Health Ministers from over a 100 countries will attend a health and climate ministerial at the conference.

The declaration is crucial as it comes at a time when annual deaths from air pollution hit almost 9 million and heat-related illness and death on the rise, and spate of climate disasters – recording-breaking heatwaves, droughts and floods are putting billions of lives at risk.

The UAE Presidency also noted support of some ‘country champions’, including India, in developing the declaration. However, India has not officially endorsed the pact as yet.

A health ministerial delegation was also expected to be at the summit. India is among the countries most-vulnerable to climate change, and its health implications are more pronounced on the billion-plus population.

Experts that News18 spoke to highlighted the importance of bringing health to the centre of international climate negotiations. “COP28 would have been one of the best opportunities for India to do that. It is the closest the world leaders have come to making it a Health COP,” said one the experts.

“As one of the leading global emitters worldwide, and the home of 1 billion of the world’s population, the absence of India from the list of over 120 countries endorsing the COP28 health declaration is striking,” said Jess Beagley, Policy Lead, Global Climate and Health Alliance.

Under its G20 Presidency, India also managed to bring world leaders to commit to work towards enhancing the resilience of health systems and developing climate resilient and low-carbon health systems. “India is setting a compelling precedent in climate action, as evidenced by its proactive approach during the G20 presidency, where the Delhi Declaration emphasized the intersection of climate and health agendas,” said Dr Arvind Kumar, Founder Trustee, Lung Care Foundation/Doctors for Clean Air.

WHAT DOES THE DECLARATION SAY?

The 123 governments agreed to work on protecting communities and preparing the healthcare sector to cope with climate-related impacts such as extreme heat, air pollution and infectious diseases. Signatories have also committed to incorporate health targets in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and improve international collaboration to address the health risks of climate change.

“The climate crisis is a health crisis, but for too long, health has been a footnote in climate discussions,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization emphasizing the need to build climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems.

The crucial Climate Summit will hold the Health Day on December 3 which will see the first-ever climate and health ministerial at a COP. Ministers of health and senior health delegations from over 100 countries are expected to attend.

“For COP28 to go down in history as the first ‘Health COP’, it will be necessary for governments to sustain this focus on health throughout the negotiations, and to take real action to protect people’s health – including the phase-out of fossil fuels, additional finance to address the impacts of climate change, and making health a fundamental measure of our progress and success on climate action,” said Dr Jeni Miller, Executive Director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance.