‘Now Or Never’ Opportunity To Save Planet For Better Health
The world is steadily healing after battling the coronavirus pandemic that certainly wreaked havoc across the globe. The precipitates of the pandemic have left many lessons and evidently shifted the focus back onto better healthcare for all. The perils of climate change are clearly visible and the hottest march in the last 122 years serves as a wakeup call to initiate actions and save our forthcoming generations from the health impact of climate change.
As per WHO, between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 2,50,000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress. The direct damage cost to health is estimated to shoot up till US$2 billion and US$4 billion per year by 2030. As quoted by Hippocrates, “Nature itself is the best physician.” Hence, there is a dire need to plan and implement actions in order to combat climate change to prevent the future generations from catastrophic impacts.
The situation is alarming and according to the UN body IPCC’s recent report, if all policies to cut carbon that governments had put in place by the end of 2020 were fully implemented, the world will still warm by 3.2 degree Celsius this century. The menace of air pollution today has aggravated depletion of the ozone layer, resulting in both direct and indirect harm to public health. WHO says 99% of the global population breathes air that exceeds its quality limits and is often rife with particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs, enter the veins and arteries leading to millions of inevitable deaths each year. The situation in India is pretty grave, projecting high levels of PM10. China, on the other hand, showed high levels of PM2.5. The thick smog that covers the sky of the country's national capital Delhi every year is a living example of the adverse impacts.
Similarly, water, which is key constituent to life is also not untouched with the harmful effects of climate change and demands quick, result-oriented actions. The increasingly variable rainfall patterns have hampered supply of fresh water, which is exactly why the world is battling water scarcity, which would eventually affect 4 out of 10 people. Lack of safe water can intensify the risks of water-borne diseases, diarrhea being one of them, taking lives of approximately 2.2 million people every year (including other illnesses as well.)
A now or never opportunity: One of the optimistic outcomes of the pandemic is that it brought the emphasis onto public health awareness and the ongoing challenges. As of today, there is a ‘now or never’ opportunity to call for swift actions and align climate change and health goals. Prompt actions which reduce emission of carbon can drastically mitigate the pollution levels. Engaging the public in greener actions for quicker results has now become a matter of priority. Switching to green mobility and clean energy, tree plantation drives, improving walking and cycling infrastructure, awareness drives can cut down the levels of carbon emissions and improve health conditions through increased physical activity, potentially reducing respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity.
Two of the most pivotal sectors—Health and Environment definitely deserve more investments, capacity building, strengthening of workforce, encouragement to research and surveillance and building of smart solutions which are sustainable in the long run. Also, the government should prioritize climatic interventions for health and environmental gains. Empowering communities remains the most overlooked fundamentals to respond to the challenges and opportunities of climate change. Conscious and responsible individuals must be encouraged, trained, empowered and rewarded for recognizing and working on the challenges—both health and environmental. The world is changing rapidly and timely actions are a must to ensure this now or never opportunity is not missed.
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