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USC INSTITUTE ON INEQUALITIES IN GLOBAL HEALTH WILLIAM E. JARDELL Researcher, USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health. Student rapporteur, ‘Health and Human Rights in the Climate Crisis’.
At the start of this conference, Helen Clark framed the urgency of what we are dealing with perfectly, reminding us that each day, each week, each month, each year, it becomes tougher to address climate change and reverse the path that we are currently on. After all that has been said, it is evident that it is not a matter of if we framed climate change as a disease but whether, when, and will the world take notice. Climate change is a clear threat to health and to human rights, and should be framed as such and must be addressed with the same sense of urgency we’ve seen in other crisis. The key question of ‘who’ is most impacted, and who is responsible has been at the forefront of all our conversations. Who does climate change most impact? Whose health is and will be impacted? Whose rights are and will be impacted? Who is responsible for addressing climate change? Who are the actors that need to be at the table to address the health and well-being of all people especially those who are at most risk? And ultimately who is accountable, who holds governments and corporations to account, and who should be brought to justice for not
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER | VOLUME 30: ISSUE 2 – DECEMBER 2021
addressing these issues and their impacts on people’s right to health? Inequalities run rampant when it comes to health, as we continue to see during the COVID-19 pandemic. Marginalised populations who are too often left behind are being pushed further into vulnerable situations that negatively impact their health. We are already in a period of increased air-borne illness; heat-related injuries; water, food and sanitation insecurity, to name a few; and a period of reduced capacity to cope with the many health and rights threats around the world. Now add climate change. Dr. Mofokeng brought forward how we cannot talk about a healthy environment without talking about healthy people. Too often voices have been left out of the conversation and leaders like Noelene Nabulivou have reminded us that the lived realities and knowledge of indigenous communities are what need to be the centre of the path forward. These issues are gendered, they are rights issues, and they are complex. We know already that we can no longer think of human rights and health as just guaranteeing populations access to health services, to care that is of high quality, to information on health risks and technology, to participate in the health continuum, and so on. We must now add a new layer with a focus on populations who are forced to migrate because of climate disasters, and the ability to participate in achieving the highest standard of health as climate change adds significant challenges.
