ASHENEWS reports that as stakeholders prepare for the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29), the World Health Organization (WHO) has placed an urgent call for countries to put health at the forefront of all negotiations and action plans.
The global health body is also calling on stakeholders to push for resilience and adaptation measures that are people-centred.
The WHO, placed the call while launching the COP29 special report on climate and health as well as technical guidance on Healthy Nationally Determined Contributions.
The WHO called on world leaders at COP29 to abandon the siloed approach to addressing climate change and health while also promoting an end to reliance on fossil fuels.
“The climate crisis is a health crisis, which makes prioritizing health and well-being in climate action not only a moral and legal imperative, but a strategic opportunity to unlock transformative health benefits for a more just and equitable future,” the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said.
The WHO DG stressed that COP29 provides an opportunity for global leaders to integrate health considerations into strategies for adapting to and mitigating climate change.
On his part, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres said “The climate crisis is also a health crisis. Human health and planetary health are intertwined. Countries must take meaningful action to protect their people, boost resources, cut emissions, phase out fossil fuels, and make peace with nature. COP29 must drive progress towards those vital goals for the planet’s health and for people’s health.”
At COP29, climate finance is a key issue for discussion.
Given the uneven impact of climate change being experienced across countries, COP29 seeks to provide an avenue to seek out ways to empower regions with the finances needed to address these uneven impacts.
Counties are also expected to present their updated climate action plans as expected under the Paris Agreement due in early 2025.
