Introduction by Croakey: The world is awash with grim climate news, and reactions to the COP27 negotiations that concluded in Egypt earlier this week have been mixed.
One senior medico described COP27 as “an unmitigated disaster indicating that international cooperation is incapable of stopping climate change”, while science writer Julian Cribb said that:
The nations of the world voted to terminate human civilisation and commit all our grandchildren to bake and starve on an uninhabitable ruin of a Planet.”
Meanwhile, the seventh biennial State of the Climate report makes what are becoming predictably grim projections for Australia’s future, such as continuing warming, drying, extended fire seasons, ongoing sea level rise, more heavy rainfall events, and an increased risk of natural disasters.
Yet there are some green shoots. Hope is at the heart of a two-day HEAL Network conference which opened on Wednesday, with nearly 900 people registered for live gatherings in all state and territory capitals and additional national online sessions.
#HEAL2022 aims to provide an inspirational forum for knowledge transfer, scientific debate, and community-wide conversations about research and policy priority setting on human health, climate and environmental change solutions in Australia, as Marie McInerney will report for the Croakey Conference News Service in coming days.
The conference heard that yesterday also marked the first meeting of the advisory committee charged with developing a long-urged national climate change and health strategy, finally to be set up by the new Labor Government.
The strategy will focus on three objectives: maximising the synergies between good climate policy and public health policy, reducing the carbon footprint of the health sector, and ensuring that the health sector is well prepared for the impacts of climate change, Assistant Health and Aged Care Minister Ged Kearney said in a video presentation.
Meanwhile, Croakey readers wanting a deeper understanding of the health implications of COP27 can join this Climate and Health Alliance webinar today from 5pm AEDT. One of the presenters, Arthur Wyns, who was on the ground in Egypt for the Alliance, explains in the Twitter thread posted below why he is choosing “stubborn optimism”.
Arthur Wyns tweets:
Responses
Bookmark this link to follow the #HealthyCOP27 series.
On Twitter follow #HealthyCOP27 and also this Twitter list.
We acknowledge and thank the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation for funding the #HealthyCOP27 series, and Adjunct Professor Janine Mohamed and the Lowitja Institute for partnering with Croakey Health Media on the project.
