Climate crisis One third of heat deaths are already due to the effects of climate change
Greta Thunberg "The health crisis and the environmental crisis are connected"
More than 200 scientific journals in the field of Health Sciences
from around the world have come together to simultaneously publish an editorial urging world leaders to make
2021 the decisive year in the fight against climate change
. Experts call for urgent measures to limit the rise in global temperature, stop the destruction of nature and protect health. The recently set targets to reduce emissions and conserve biodiversity are welcome, but not sufficient.
"They have yet to be combined with credible short-term and long-term plans
,
" he
says.
The text has been published in major journals on all continents, including the
BMJ, Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, East African Medical Journal, Chinese Science Bulletin, National Medical Journal of India, Medical Journal of Australia, International Nursing Review,
the
Revista de Saúde Pública
Brazil
and 50 specialist journals linked to BMJ, including
BMJ Global Health
and
Thorax
.
"Health professionals have been on the front line of the COVID-19 crisis and are united to warn that
exceeding the 1.5ºC increase in global temperature and allowing the continued destruction of nature will bring the next crisis, much more deadly,
"warns Fiona Godlee, editor-in-chief of
BMJ
and one of the editorial's co-authors. "Richer nations must act faster and do more to help countries already experiencing higher temperatures. 2021 has to be the year the world changes course. Our health depends on it."
"Despite the necessary global concern with covid-19,
we cannot wait for the pandemic to pass to quickly reduce emissions,
" the editorial notes. Its publication occurs on the occasion of the UN General Assembly, scheduled for next week. This is one of the last international meetings to take place before the next
Climate Summit (COP26), to be held in November in Glasgow, UK
. The authors consider this to be a crucial moment to urge all countries to deliver improved and, above all, more ambitious climate plans to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, the international treaty on climate change adopted by 195 countries in 2015.
For decades, health professionals and scientific publications have been warning of the severe and growing health impacts of climate change and the destruction of nature.
For example, the authors recall that, in the last 20 years, heat-related mortality has increased by more than 50% among people over 65 years of age. High temperatures have led to
increased dehydration and loss of kidney function, dermatological neoplasms, tropical infections, adverse effects on mental health, complications in pregnancy, allergies, and increased cardiovascular and pulmonary morbidity and mortality
.
They also disproportionately affect the most vulnerable, including children and the elderly, ethnic minorities, the poorest communities and people with underlying health problems.
On the other hand, global warming also hurts major crops and hampers efforts to reduce malnutrition.
"Global warming affects the future of our planet and right now it is affecting the lung health of all its inhabitants at all ages, from young to old," explains Alan Smyth, deputy editor-in-chief of
Thorax
.
"This editorial is a call to world leaders at COP26 to take immediate and proportionate action to limit the rise in global temperature."
The joint editorial urges governments to intervene to transform societies and economies with measures such as
redesigning transportation systems, cities, food production and distribution, financial markets and healthcare systems
. It will take a substantial investment, they acknowledge, but this "will have enormous economic and health benefits, such as generating high-quality jobs, reducing air pollution, increasing physical activity, and improving housing and diet. ".
Better air quality alone would generate health benefits that would easily outweigh the overall costs of reducing emissions, the authors argue. These measures will also improve the social and economic determinants of health, the poor state of which, they explain, may have made populations more vulnerable to the covid-19 pandemic.
Fundamentally, the solution is for
rich nations to do more
, the editorial notes. In particular, the responsibility must fall on the countries that have contributed disproportionately to the environmental crisis. These
should help low- and middle-income countries to build cleaner, healthier and more resilient societies
, as developing countries have greater difficulties in reducing the problems derived from climate change. "As with the covid-19 pandemic, globally we are only as strong as the weakest member."
"What we must do to address pandemics, health inequities, and climate change is the same
: solidarity and global action that recognizes that, within countries and between nations, our destinies are inextricably linked, as is society. Human health is inextricably linked to the health of the planet, "says Seye Abimbola, editor-in-chief of
BMJ Global Health
.
Developed countries must commit to
increasing climate-related finance
and meet their exceptional commitment to provide $ 100 billion a year.
The editorial argues that this money "should be provided in the form of grants, rather than loans, and should be accompanied by the forgiveness of large debts, which limit the performance of so many low-income countries. Additional funds must be raised to offset losses and unavoidable damage caused by the consequences of the environmental crisis ".
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