“The climate crisis is the greatest threat facing humanity today,” says WHO
For the World Health Organization, the leaders and representatives of nations must act against climate change.
Photo: Kevin Frayer / Getty Images
In a statement, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged world leaders to “act urgently” on climate change. The report presents 10 recommended measures for the care of the environment and health.
This occurs weeks before the United Nations (UN) summit on climate change takes place in November.
According to the WHO, global warming is the “greatest threat to health facing humanity currently”. “While no one is safe from the health impacts of climate change, the most vulnerable and disadvantaged feel them disproportionately.”
For the health entity, the main cause of climate change is the burning of fossil fuels and adds that all sectors of society need a must take “transformative actions”In that area.
On the other hand, the report was published at the same time as an open letter signed by various groups of health professionals representing 45 million nurses and doctors from all over the world where they urge presidents and representatives of nations to act against global warming.
“Air pollution, most significantly from the burning of fossil fuels which also drives climate change, is causing more than seven million premature deaths each year, that is, 13 deaths per minute. Forest fires, burning waste and harmful agricultural practices are also polluting our air and lungs, ”the letter states.
Avoid more deaths
The letter also indicates that the climate crisis generates extreme climates, which causes food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition of millions of people.
In the letter they emphasize the importance of keeping the increase in temperature on Earth at 1.5 ° C at all costs. “The most current scientific assessments make it clear that to avoid catastrophic health impacts and prevent millions of climate change change-related deaths, the world should limit warming to 1.5 ° C“.
The letter and the report also pointed to air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels, which intensifies climate change generating heat waves and floods around the world. They added that rising sea levels “destroy millions of homes and livelihoods.”
Maria Neira, director of the WHO Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, wrote in the report that “it is time to listen” to health leaders that despite the COVID-19 pandemic “have warned about climate change“.
According to the report, this was written in memory of Ella Kissi-Debrah who died at the age of 9 in 2013 due to an asthma attack and experts believe it is the first person in history whose death is clearly due to weather conditions. She lived southeast of London.
“Reduce air pollution to the levels of the WHO guidelines, for example, reduce the total number of global deaths from air pollution by 80% while drastically reducing emissions of greenhouse gases that fuel climate changeNeira continued.
The report ends by mentioning the Paris agreements and mentions that if they were fully complied with “millions of lives could be saved annually”.
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