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Madrid: Activists Call for Public Health to Take Central Role at UN Climate Talks
By Miguel Jara
Madrid: Environmental health activists have been campaigning for public health aspects of climate change to be incorporated into any agreement reached when world leaders meet to discuss global warming in Copenhagen next month.
"As public health professionals we have a duty to warn the world's governments that if they do not take bold action now we face the spectre of a future of global public health crises generated or exacerbated by climate change."
World Federation of Public
Health Associations
Roberto Bertollini, director of the special programme on health and environment at the World Health Organization's regional office in Europe, said, "In the 1992 agreement [made at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro], in articles 1 and 2, human health was mentioned in relation to global warming, but this topic has been lost over the years, and now we are making sure it gets back into the agenda."
He was speaking at climate change talks in Barcelona ahead of the United Nations meeting in Copenhagen from 7 to 18 December. "At WHO we would like to see greater attention given to the social and health impacts of climate change in the current negotiations," said Dr Bertollini. "Population adaptation will require the active involvement of health systems and the necessary human and financial resources. "We hope that the new treaty will meet these needs, and we expect that this initiative from the health community in Barcelona will draw more attention to the health impacts of climate change and the necessary response."
He was handed a giant placard with the words "Prescription for a healthy planet" across it to represent the interests of millions of healthcare professionals in more than 120 countries whose organisations have endorsed it. The placard will be handed to UN officials at the climate talks.
The "prescription" diagnoses the global threats to public health that climate change poses and urges the world's governments to negotiate a strong, binding agreement. The groups are calling for the Copenhagen treaty to protect public health, set strong targets on emission reductions, promote clean energy, and mandate major funding for developing countries to cope with the climate crisis.
Pendo Maro, senior climate and energy adviser at Health Care Without Harm and Health and Environment Alliance, the two organisations that developed the prescription in collaboration with the Climate and Health Council, a UK based body that aims to mobilise health professionals worldwide to act against climate change, said, "With this prescription, healthcare leaders from around the world are speaking with one voice, insisting that an agreement in Copenhagen must protect both the planet and public health."
In the past two months the prescription has been endorsed by many major health organisations, including the International Council of Nurses (a global federation of national nursing organisations representing nurses in 128 countries), the International Society of Doctors for the Environment, and the Standing Committee of European Doctors, which represents 27 medical associations in Europe. In the United States a parallel initiative from healthcare leaders representing hundreds of hospitals and nearly three million health professionals is calling on President Obama to support the points made in the prescription.
Paulo Buss, president of the World Federation of Public Health Associations, another of the prescription's signatories, said, "As public health professionals we have a duty to warn the world's governments that if they do not take bold action now we face the spectre of a future of global public health crises generated or exacerbated by climate change."
Dr Bertollini said that if the Copenhagen agreement addresses key aspects of health, the health sector in developing countries will benefit from funding "that will be available for adaptation to climate change and so be able to work better in the direction of prevention and treatment of problems like diarrhoea."
It has been rumoured in Barcelona that the document that will come out of the Copenhagen meeting will be a political agreement and not a legally binding treaty. Dr Bertollini said this may not be a bad thing, because "that which is legally binding is not necessarily respected, as we have seen with the Kyoto treaty." He added: "I think that the human health factor as a result of climate change is very present in this agreement, and there will be other negotiations in 2011 or even in 2010 about this."
However, other health activists said that the difference between an agreement and a legally binding treaty was considerable, with a treaty attracting more tools for enforcement and more funding.
A European Commission impact assessment estimated that the annual public health savings resulting from a 20% reduction in carbon emissions (from 1990 levels) by 2020 would be €52bn (£47bn/ $77bn) each year after 2020 in Europe alone.
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