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The climate crisis is changing living conditions around the world - and endangering the health of millions of people.
Photo: Jan Wittkamp / 500px / Getty Images
In a joint editorial, more than 220 specialist medical magazines have called on the world’s heads of state and government to take the climate emergency seriously and to take decisive action against it.
In the letter, the authors called for immediate action: to reshape society, limit climate change, restore biodiversity and protect public health.
It calls on governments and other responsible parties to "mark the year 2021 as the one in which the world will finally change course," it says in the text.
It is important not to be overestimated to limit the increase in the global average temperature to below 1.5 degrees.
The Director General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, commented on the appeal: “The risks of climate change could eclipse those of any disease.
The Covid-19 pandemic will end, but there is no vaccine against the climate crisis. "
The call appears in the run-up to the UN General Assembly, one of the last international meetings before the World Climate Conference (COP26), which will take place in Glasgow in November.
The letter is published in renowned journals such as "The Lancet", "The British Medical Journal", "The New England Journal of Medicine" as well as the "Chinese Science Bulletin" and the "International Nursing Review".
Millions of people's health is threatened
Scientists have long drawn attention to the fact that increasing environmental degradation and rising global temperatures are taking a toll on health.
According to a study, the results of which were published in the journal "The Lancet" last year, there were around 20,200 deaths in Germany over 65 years of age in 2018 in connection with heat.
"Despite the world's necessary preoccupation with Covid-19, we cannot wait until the pandemic is over in order to reduce emissions quickly," emphasize the authors of the appeal.
Heat-related mortality, the health consequences of destructive weather events and the ongoing destruction of important ecosystems are just some of the effects that are increasingly observed due to the climate emergency.
The consequences are unfairly distributed
The joint appeal emphasizes that the consequences of the environmental crisis have been distributed unfairly.
"While low- and middle-income countries have contributed less to climate change in the past, they bear an excessive burden of negative effects, including on health," writes Lukoye Atwoli, editor of the "East Africa Medical Journal".
"We therefore call for fair contributions, in which the wealthier countries of the world do more to offset the effects of their actions on the climate, now and in the future."
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In addition, the climate emergency has an impact on harvests worldwide and thus on food security. Just recently the UN Fund for Agricultural Development warned that protecting biodiversity is crucial to fighting global hunger.
Specifically, the industrialized nations would have to reduce their emissions more quickly - "by 2030 beyond the currently proposed reductions and by 2050 to net zero emissions," it says in the call. The wealthier countries should commit to increasing climate finance and meet their outstanding commitments. The efforts that are already being made to reduce greenhouse gases and increase the share of renewable energies are praiseworthy, but not sufficient. Above all, the health consequences of the climate emergency are not sufficiently taken into account.
Specifically, the leading article calls for governments of the world to redesign transport systems, cities, food production and distribution, financial investment markets, and health systems.
"This will require enormous investments that go far beyond what is being considered or achieved anywhere in the world."
The leading article on behalf of the health professions was coordinated and co-authored by the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change and 17 editors-in-chief from the editorial offices involved.
vki / dpa