Time to treat the climate and nature crisis as one indivisible global health emergency

• Published in: Open heart 2023-10, Vol.10 (2), p.e002525
• Main Author: Zielinski, Chris
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abatacept; Adalimumab; Air pollution; Biodiversity; Carbon; Climate change; Community; Ecosystems; Editorial; Health services research; Medical personnel; Native peoples; Nature; Outdoor air quality; Political leadership; Public health; Water shortages
• ISSN: 2053-3624; 2398-595X; 2053-3624
• DOI: 10.1136/openhrt-2023-002525

Damage to one subsystem can create feedback that damages another—for example, drought, wildfires, floods and the other effects of rising global temperatures destroy plant life and lead to soil erosion, and so inhibit carbon storage, which means more global warming.2 Climate change is set to overtake deforestation and other land-use change as the primary driver of nature loss.3 Nature has a remarkable power to restore. [...]deforested land can revert to forest through natural regeneration, and marine phytoplankton, which act as natural carbon stores, turn over one billion tonnes of photosynthesising biomass every 8 days.4 Indigenous land and sea management has a particularly important role to play in regeneration and continuing care.5 Restoring one subsystem can help another—for example, replenishing soil could help remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere on a vast scale.6 But actions that may benefit one subsystem can harm another—for example, planting forests with one type of tree can remove carbon dioxide from the air but can damage the biodiversity that is fundamental to healthy ecosystems.7 The impacts on health Human health is damaged directly by both the climate crisis, as the journals have described in previous editorials,8 9 and by the nature crisis.10 This indivisible planetary crisis will have major effects on health as a result of the disruption of social and economic systems—shortages of land, shelter, food and water, exacerbating poverty, which in turn will lead to mass migration and conflict. Communities are healthier if they have access to high-quality green spaces that help filter air pollution, reduce air and ground temperatures, and provide opportunities for physical activity.20 Connection with nature reduces stress, loneliness and depression while promoting social interaction.21 These benefits are threatened by the continuing rise in urbanisation.22 Finally, the health impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss will be experienced unequally between and within countries, with the most vulnerable communities often bearing the highest burden.10 Linked to this, inequality is also arguably fuelling these environmental crises. [...]we call for the WHO to make this declaration before or at the 77th World Health Assembly in May 2024.