The Māori Climate Commissioner, Donna Awatere Huata, says the latest research from The Lancet demands an immediate response from the Government.
“The Lancet is considered one of the most respected medical journals and their release last week of a report on the health impact of climate change calls on politicians to acknowledge the danger and answer how the current mild climate change policy hopes to combat that threat.”
The Lancet predicts crop yield failures leading to malnutrition, increased risk of dengue fever and the direct threat from extreme weather events causing injuries, deaths, displacement and post-traumatic stress.
“One major threat to health from a dramatically warming planet is the ability of workers to just be able to do their jobs in soaring temperatures. There is a point where being outside in extreme heat is simply too dangerous. New Zealand-based environmental and occupational health expert, Professor Todd Kjellstrom, wrote in the report that hotter temperatures cost 153 billion hours of productive work. What was most alarming about that figure is that it was based on temperatures from 2017! This is the reality of the global warming world we now face and to date, New Zealand’s politicians have offered a vague promise to be carbon neutral in 32 years.”
“Climate change is happening right here, right now. Without radical responses like mass tree planting, large increases in green energy research and a fundamental re-ordering of the economic and social settings, the conclusions The Lancet predicts will become unavoidable.”
“We must stop letting politicians off the hook when it comes to demanding solutions in the here and now.”
This document constitutes the New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine (NZCPHM)’s policy statement on Climate Change. Adopted by the NZCPHM Council on 22 November 2013
Reference:
New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine. Policy statement on Climate Change. Wellington: New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine, 2013. Available at http://www.nzcphm.org.nz/policy
“The New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine (NZCPHM) recognizes climate change as a serious, potentially catastrophic emerging risk to public health and health equity.
This policy statement explains the importance of health amidst climate change impacts so that public health professionals and others can take substantive action.
The statement describes the cause and extent of global climate change, the urgency, and the risks to human health and well-being. The statement then outlines action to prevent and manage these risks to human health and explains the potential health co-benefits from well-designed policies to address climate change.
Finally, the statement identifies public health medicine responsibilities for climate health action.
The New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine (NZCPHM) recognises climate change as a serious emerging risk to global public health, development and equity.
Climate change is almost certainly already contributing to the global burden of disease and premature death, with larger health impacts expected over coming decades. These potentially catastrophic health impacts disproportionately affect developing countries, and the most disadvantaged and vulnerable within all countries.
Aotearoa New Zealand will not be insulated from these consequences.
In New Zealand, Māori, Pacific, vulnerable, and lower socioeconomic populations are at risk of disproportionate health impacts from climate change.
Therefore, climate change also has serious implications for health equity in New Zealand.
New Zealand’s location in the Pacific and its reliance on the global economy mean that beyond direct climate-health impacts, adverse impacts on the determinants of health are likely, along with new health and social pressures from migrant populations arriving in New Zealand.
The NZCPHM has a responsibility to ensure the public health and equity consequences of climate change are understood, to lead in preventing and preparing for those consequences, and to promote the substantial population health gains that can be achieved from appropriate climate change action.
Climate, health, and equity are inseparable. Addressing climate change should be an essential component of health policy. Similarly, health and equity outcomes must be key priorities within climate change policy.
The College calls for public health medicine leadership and rapid action to address climate change from members at personal and professional levels – alongside health professionals, organizations, society and governments, in New Zealand and worldwide.”
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