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How Gender Inequality and Climate Change are Interconnected

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How Gender Inequality and Climate Change are Interconnected

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The climate crisis is not "gender neutral". Women and girls experience the greatest impacts of climate change, which amplifies existing gender inequalities and poses unique threats to their livelihoods, health, and safety.

Across the world, women depend more on, yet have less access to, natural resources. In many regions, women bear a disproportionate responsibility for securing food, water, and fuel. Agriculture is the most important employment sector for women in low- and lower-middle income countries, during periods of drought and erratic rainfall, women, as agricultural workers and primary procurers, work harder to secure income and resources for their families. This puts added pressure on girls, who often have to leave school to help their mothers manage the increased burden.

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Explainer: How gender inequality and climate change are interconnected | UN Women - Headquarters

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Gender inequality coupled with the climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges of our time. It poses threats to ways of life, livelihoods, health, safety and security for women and girls around the world.

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Why Climate Change and Poverty are Inextricably Linked

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Why Climate Change and Poverty are Inextricably Linked

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The United Nations urges all countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change, otherwise the many causes and consequences of poverty will only worsen. You can join us in taking action on related issues here.
What do Leonardo DiCaprio, Pope Francis, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights have in common?

They've all used their platforms to highlight the link between poverty and climate change-and said we can't solve one without addressing the other.

Pope Francis has called the global failure to act on climate change "a brutal act of injustice toward the poor," while DiCaprio wisely pointed out "the environment and the fight for the world's poor are inherently linked." Philip Alston, the UN rapporteur, said in 2019 that a "climate apartheid" is right around the corner.

Climate change looms over all countries, promising severe droughts, supercharged storms, and blistering heat waves. But these consequences are unevenly felt around the world.

Above all, they threaten the most vulnerable populations across the globe.

"Climate change is going to amplify the already existing divide between those who have resources and those who do not," Eliot Levine, director of the environment technical support Unit at Mercy Corps, told Global Citizen.

"We are already seeing the impacts of climate change around the world, and the latest IPCC reports clearly illustrate that we are very quickly heading towards experiencing them at a greater scale and degree of severity than we had previously understood," he added.

As global temperatures and sea levels rise, as the oceans acidify and precipitation patterns get rearranged, people living in poverty are the most severely impacted. Since climate change affects everything from where a person can live to their access to health care, millions of people could be plunged further into poverty as environmental conditions worsen.

This is especially true for poor people living in low-income countries. Just as climate change deepens inequalities within a country, it also further stratifies international relations because some nations are more threatened by it than others. And poor countries have fewer resources to deal with the problem.

"The world's poorest communities often live on the most fragile land, and they are often politically, socially, and economically marginalized, making them especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change," Christina Chan, director of the World Resource Institute's Climate Resilience Practice, told Global Citizen. "More frequent and intense storms, flooding, drought, and changes in rainfall patterns are already impacting these communities, making it difficult for them to secure decent livelihoods."

Climate Refugees

Evan Mandino, right, sits with neighbors on a couch outside their destroyed homes as sun sets in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, Sept. 26, 2017.
Image: Gerald Herbert/AP

In 2017, Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, becoming the deadliest hurricane in recent US history.

More than two years later, the island is still recovering from the disaster. Homes need to be repaired and rebuilt, water supplies have not been fully restored, schools and hospitals remain shuttered, and the island's economy has been heavily disrupted.

Throughout Puerto Rico, the poorest communities were hit the hardest and are the furthest away from recovery. While many wealthy people left the island or used their resources to rebuild after the disaster, poor families have had to wait months or years for assistance from an underfunded relief effort.

This pattern has played out around the world in recent years - an unusually powerful storm makes landfall, causes catastrophic harm, and deepens inequalities.

And it's a pattern that will only become more common, according to experts.

Coastal communities hold an estimated 37% of the global population - they're hubs of commerce and culture, and have fueled global development. Yet, for all their historic significance, these environments could be emptied out in the decades ahead as natural disasters intensify and sea levels rise.

More than 570 coastal cities could be affected by sea level rise by 2050. In that same period, as many as 1 billion people could be displaced by environmental hazards-primarily sea level rise and natural disasters. Displacement can push a person into poverty by stripping them of their home, profession, and networks. Many people who are displaced are unable to carry their former wealth into their new contexts and struggle to find work and regain their stability.

An estimated 100 million people living in developing countries could be pushed into poverty by climate change by 2030.

"Not only are people within these contexts ill equipped to adequately prepare for these extreme events, but they're also ill equipped to recover from them afterwards," Levine said.

Some cities, such as Jakarta, have proposed a "managed retreat" to avoid sudden displacements. The Indonesian capital, with a population of more than 10 million, has decided to relocate to the North of the country instead of trying to mitigate the climate risks it faces. In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of people from the city, particularly those living in slums, have already been displaced by storms and sea level rise.

People are being displaced by drier phenomena as well. Farmers throughout sub-Saharan Africa have had to abandon their land due to devastating droughts in recent years. Rising temperatures, meanwhile, are forcing an untold number of people around the world to pack up and leave their homes.

The surge in refugees arriving from Central America to the US has also gone up in part due to soaring temperatures and droughts that have pushed farmers off their land.

To make matters worse, countries around the world are becoming more hostile to migrants and refugees, a problem that could get considerably worse as the number of those displaced by environmental factors grows.

Food and Water Scarcity

Ethiopia has been experiencing historic droughts, which has led to water scarcity and food insecurity for millions.
Ethiopia has been experiencing historic droughts, which has led to water scarcity and food insecurity for millions.
Image: Mulugenta Ayene/UNICEF

For the first time in years, world hunger rose in 2019.

The sharpest increase was seen in sub-Saharan Africa, where years of severe drought has ruined agricultural output.

In Zimbabwe, where more than 7 million people require food aid, the 2019 harvest was half as large as the year before, and this year's harvest is on track to be similarly diminished.

In Southern Africa alone, more than 45 million people face food shortages.

Crop yields vary from year to year for all sorts of reasons - lack of resources and technology, economic downturns, conflict, and political dysfunction. But climate change is a particularly disruptive variable that's reshaping food production around the world, threatening up to half a billion people with poverty and food insecurity.

Droughts have become ruinously prolonged in sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, a shift that has caused widespread crop failures, cattle deaths, food shortages, and poverty.

Similar agricultural disruptions are occurring around the world, with similar economic consequences. Agricultural output could decline by as much as 30% in the years ahead, threatening the livelihoods of 500 million smallholder farmers at a time when the demand for food is expected to rise by up to 98% by 2050.

"The disruptions that climate change brings to agricultural producers and their ability to put food on the table is immense and growing rapidly," Levine said. "It's also affecting their ability to produce foods that provide a balanced set of nutritional components. That was hard enough without climate change, and now there's this added layer of complexity."

Droughts intensified by climate change are putting immense pressure on the world's freshwater supplies. Already, 1 in 4 people around the world face dire water shortages. By 2050, it's predicted, as many as 50% of people could face water shortages.

In recent years, major cities like São Paulo and Cape Town have almost entirely run out of water, giving the world a peek into a future where fierce water rationing becomes the norm.

In Cape Town, for instance, water police were deputized to patrol neighborhoods and crack down on wanton water use.

Water shortages also threaten regional security in parts of the world. The war in Syria has been partly blamed on a drought that caused rural workers to migrate to urban areas in search of opportunity. The ensuing lack of opportunity led to mass protests and unrest that eventually helped trigger the war.

"You already see contentious discussions around water between nations with existing national and international policies and processes in place," Levine said. "What happens when these discussions amplify in places where there are not international agreements around water use? How do you ensure there is equitable distribution of water when there's not even domestic rules, let alone international agreements?"

Air Pollution

Wildfires rage under plumes of smoke in Bairnsdale, Australia on Dec. 30, 2019.
Wildfires rage under plumes of smoke in Bairnsdale, Australia on Dec. 30, 2019.
Image: Glen Morey/AP

The ongoing forest fires in Australia have caused tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. But escaping the flames didn't put people out of harm's way. Those who managed to flee are still being affected by the intense pollution being released into the air.

Forest fires are increasing in frequency and severity because of climate change and they're harming the health of millions of people annually. All forms of air pollution, including from factories and vehicles, lead to an estimated 8.79 million premature deaths each year.

Air pollution disproportionately affects impoverished people who live in densely packed areas, close to industrial sites, and are unable to afford purifiers or trips away from their homes when the air becomes especially toxic. Low- and middle-income countries account for nearly 92% of all pollution-related deaths.

Forest fires are increasingly corroding gains that have been made in air quality.

In Brazil, the 2019 fires in the Amazon rainforest made the air poisonous for children, according to the World Health Organization.

Climate change affects people's health in other ways, too. Deadly heat waves are becoming more common in parts of the world, creating conditions that endanger even healthy people. These heat waves, while felt universally, primarily threaten people in poverty who are unable to afford air conditioners and protection from water shortages.

"Beyond a certain point it becomes almost impossible to adapt [to climate change]," said Mahir Ilgaz, associate director of advocacy and campaigns at 350.org. "We've seen in places like Mumbai, temperatures are fast approaching conditions that are inhospitable to human habitation."

Rising temperatures are also expanding the ranges of pests like mosquitoes that carry life-threatening diseases, such as malaria, that have historically impacted people living in poverty.

Water- and food-borne diseases are becoming more common too as increased flooding from extreme precipitation events causes pollution in waterways and farmland.

The growing health problems associated with climate change are magnified by the lack of health care around the world, especially in poor communities. An estimated 1 in 5 countries have a health care plan for coping with climate change, according to the United Nations (UN).

Meanwhile, more than half of the global population doesn't have reliable access to health care, and nearly 100 million people are pushed into poverty every year because of health issues, according to the World Bank.

Endangered Livelihoods

Smallholder farmers depend on their crops for both food and income. When droughts, natural disasters, or some other climate change-related event push them off their land, they often sink deeper into poverty.

In wealthy countries, insurance acts as a safety net for farmers, allowing them to cope with bad crop yields and recover from disasters in a timely manner. Farmers in low-income countries, meanwhile, often don't have this support.

"Recovery for them means a longer, harder, more dangerous process," Levine said.

The same goes for small-scale fisheries in developing countries who depend on their daily catch to get by.

Climate change is heating up the oceans far faster than land environments, destabilizing marine ecosystems, and causing fish populations to migrate. All of this makes it harder for fishers to meet their quotas.

Livelihoods tied to subsistence - like farmers and fishermen in developing countries - are threatened by climate change and the people who fall into these categories often don't have the resources to become climate resilient.

Farming and fishing are just two professions, but they represent hundreds of millions of people worldwide. In many countries, agriculture is the primary engine of the economy, with fishing being a major source of commerce as well.

The economic shocks created by climate change will be disruptive. Poor families will struggle to accommodate the rising costs of food and water associated with droughts and natural disasters, according to the World Bank.

Climate change is also expensive for developing countries that have to redirect budgets to cope with environmental crises. In 2019, countries collectively spent $150 billion on climate change-related disasters, and that's not even accounting for funds spent on updating infrastructure and creating climate resilience.

The money spent dealing with climate change also means less money spent on health care, education, job training, and other poverty reduction initiatives.

The Way Forward

The fight against climate change and poverty are intertwined. Investments made to mitigate or adapt to climate change will inevitably reduce poverty, and investments made to reduce poverty will better protect people against the growing environmental crisis.

Countries can distribute hardier and more nutritious seeds to farmers, while providing them access to loans, grants, markets, technologies, and data that can boost harvests, according to the WRI.

They can invest in reforestation and coastline restoration projects to improve water security, protect communities from natural disasters, and create economic opportunities.

Above all, countries can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition to clean energy economies to prevent climate change from escalating in the future. Switching from fossil fuels to clean energy sources could add upwards of $26 trillion to the global economy by 2030.

"Dismantling the pillars of support for the fossil fuel industry is crucial," Ilgaz said. "It takes many shapes - divestment, cutting subsidies for infrastructure investments. The starting point should be keeping fossil fuels in the ground."

Organizations like the Green Climate Fund and the International Fund for Agricultural Development are working to both prepare communities for increasing climate risks and enable them to thrive in changing climates.

Ilgaz said that countries need to develop just transition plans that help people working in industries dependent on fossil fuels find new sources of income and stability. These just transition plans must also reimagine humanity's relationship to nature and the overexploitation of natural resources, he said.

"Climate change is not an isolated issue, it's linked to a larger ecological crisis that we see more and more these days," Ilgaz added.

Crucially, these efforts have to involve the input of local stakeholders.

"While communities are at the frontlines of climate change impacts, they rarely have an effective voice in prioritizing, decision-making, and implementing the actions that most affect them," said Chan of WRI. "In terms of interventions, none may be more important than increasing the volume of devolved and decentralized funding available to local governments, community-based organizations, and others working at the local level to identify, prioritize, implement, and monitor climate adaptation solutions."

Levine stressed that inadequate financing is the main thing preventing climate resilience programs from taking off in vulnerable areas.

"We could talk about water security, early warning systems, and smart agriculture, but none of these things are going to be a reality if we don't increase funding," he said. "If we don't ensure funds get to the ground, if we don't have the ability to put strategies into place, then the conversation is moot."

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Why Climate Change and Poverty Are Inextricably Linked

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Understand the link between poverty and climate change and why we can't solve one without addressing the other.

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Allergy Season is Getting Worse. Blame Climate Change.

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Allergy Season is Getting Worse. Blame Climate Change.

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National Institute of Food and Agriculture

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Led by William Anderegg of the University of Utah School of Biological Sciences, the researchers found that human-caused climate change played a significant role in pollen season lengthening and a partial role in pollen amount increasing. Their research, funded in part by USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"The strong link between warmer weather and pollen seasons provides a crystal-clear example of how climate change is already affecting peoples' health across the U.S.," said Anderegg.

"The strong link between warmer weather and pollen seasons provides a crystal-clear example of how climate change is already affecting peoples' health across the U.S.," said Anderegg.

A microscope image of ragweed pollen. Photo courtesy of Lewis Ziska with Columbia University

Pollen matters

Allergies to airborne pollen can be more than just a seasonal nuisance to many. Allergies are tied to respiratory health, with implications for viral infections, emergency room visits and even children's school performance. More pollen, hanging around for a longer season, makes those impacts worse.

Although previous studies found that increases in temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide-hallmarks of human-caused climate change-can cause more pollen production in greenhouse experiments, and that small-scale studies show worsening of pollen seasons in some locations or in some plants correlated with temperature, scientists hadn't yet looked at pollen trends at a continental scale or calculated the likely contribution of climate change. That's exactly what Anderegg and his colleagues set out to do.

"A number of smaller-scale studies - usually in greenhouse settings on small plants - had indicated strong links between temperature and pollen," Anderegg notes. "This study reveals that connection at continental scales and explicitly links pollen trends to human-caused climate change."

The team compiled measurements between 1990 and 2018 from 60 pollen count stations across the United States and Canada, maintained by the National Allergy Bureau. These stations collect airborne pollen and mold samples, which are then hand-counted by certified counters.

Although nationwide pollen amounts increased by around 21% over the study period, the greatest increases were recorded in Texas and the Midwestern U.S., and more among tree pollen than among other plants.

Pollen seasons today start around 20 days earlier than in 1990, suggesting that warming is causing the plants' internal timing (also called its phenology) to start producing pollen earlier in the year.

What's Climate Change Got to Do with It?

But can we say that the changes in pollen are a result of climate change? The researchers answered that question by applying statistical methods to the pollen trends in conjunction with nearly two dozen climate models.

The results showed that climate change alone could account for around half of the pollen season lengthening and around 8 percent of the pollen amount increasing. By splitting the study years into two periods, 1990-2003 and 2003-2018, the researchers found that the contribution of climate change to increasing pollen amounts is accelerating.

"Climate change isn't something far away and in the future. It's already here in every spring breath we take and increasing human misery," said Anderegg. "The biggest question is-are we up to the challenge of tackling it?"
Published with permission from the University of Utah. The original story by Paul Gabrielsen is available here. PHOTO: Rocky Mountain Columbine flower and pollen in southwestern Colorado. Photo courtesy of William Anderegg/University of Utah.

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Yes, Allergy Seasons Are Getting Worse. Blame Climate Change

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If you live with seasonal allergies and feel like the pollen seasons feel longer and longer every year, you may be right. New research shows that pollen seasons start 20 days earlier, are 10 days longer, and feature 21% more pollen than in 1990-meaning more days of itchy, sneezy, drippy misery.

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Wildfires, Air Pollution and Human Health

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Wildfires, Air Pollution and Human Health

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Millions of Americans are now routinely exposed to unhealthy plumes of wildfire smoke that can waft thousands of miles across the country, scientists have warned.

Wildfires cause soot and ash to be thrown off into the air, which then carries the minuscule particles that can be inhaled by people many miles away, aggravating a variety of health conditions. The number of people in the US exposed to unhealthy levels of these particulates from wildfires at least one day a year has increased 27-fold over the last decade, a new study found, with 25 million people in 2020 alone breathing in potentially toxic air from fires.

Pockets of deeply unhealthy air have emerged mainly in the US west, the staging ground for wildfires of increasing intensity that have been fueled by years of fire suppression and global heating, priming forests to burn. Six of the seven largest wildfires in California's recorded history have occurred since 2020.

Wildfire smoke can result in the closure of schools, the postponement of flights and even cause cycling races and Pearl Jam concerts to be canceled. But its most pervasive impact is a regression in air quality barely seen since the advent of the Clean Air Act in 1970, which helped lift dangerous, choking smog conditions from many polluted US cities.

"We are seeing the undoing of a lot of that clean air progress, especially in the west," said Marshall Burke, a scientist at Stanford University and co-author of the study published in Environmental Science and Technology.

"There's been really dramatic increases in wildfire smoke as air pollution, in some places fully reversing the impact of the Clean Air Act. It's been remarkably quick. Our air pollution regulations are not designed to deal with this. It's a worrying problem."

Series of US maps showing the increase in PM2.5 pollution from smoke, specifically in the west.

The new study is based on a model that calculates how wildfire smoke has raised background pollution levels in locations across the US. It measures the presence of PM 2.5, tiny particles about one-thirtieth of the width of a human hair that can travel through the air and bury themselves deep in the lungs of people when inhaled.

Wildfire smoke has added about five micrograms of these particles to locations in the US west, on average, which is a sizable increase from national levels, which are about 10 micrograms from other sources of particulate pollution, such as the emissions from cars, trucks and power plants.

Unlike these other sources, which are regulated by government, wildfire smoke is less predictable, reaches farther and is more egalitarian in whom it affects - the wealthy and white as well as poor people of color who are disproportionately exposed to pollution from nearby highways and factories.

On 20 July 2021, the Met Life and Chrysler buildings were blanketed by a thick haze hanging over Manhattan caused by wildfires in the west of the US. Photograph: Julie Jacobson/AP

"Wildfires produce an amazing amount of particulates that can travel thousands of miles, unlike other pollution," said Burke. Last summer, New York experienced some of the worst air quality in the world due to smoke from wildfires several thousand miles away on the west coast of the US.

A decade ago, fewer than 500,000 people in the US were exposed to any days of an air quality index of 100 or above due to smoke, a level that is deemed unhealthy. Now, Burke said, 5 million Americans are living in areas with such levels at least one day a year.

"If you don't live near a highway or power plant your air quality is likely to be fairly good, but incursion from wildfire smoke is changing that and there's evidence this will increase," he said. "Honestly, it was surprising to see how quickly these extreme exposures have gone up."

Bar chart of the number of people in the US exposed to at least one day of dangerous levels of PM2.5.

The dangers posed by wildfire smoke are of increasing concern for experts in various places around the world - a summer of intense wildfires in Spain, France and Portugal has resulted in Europe's highest wildfire emissions in 15 years. The probability of catastrophic wildfire events around the globe will increase by 30% by the end of the century even if planet-heating gases are rapidly cut, according to the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.

"As the globe warms, wildfires and associated air pollution are expected to increase, even under a low emissions scenario. In addition to human health impacts, this will also affect ecosystems as air pollutants settle from the atmosphere to Earth's surface," said Petteri Taalas, secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization.

"We have seen this in the heatwaves in Europe and China this year when stable high atmospheric conditions, sunlight and low wind speeds were conducive to high pollution levels."

Research has linked wildfire smoke to the worsening of several conditions. Fierce wildfires in California in 2020 caused people to inhale smoke that raised their risk of heart attacks by up to 70%, a study found, with the smoke causing an estimated 3,000 deaths in people older than 65.

A separate study published in May found that people living within 50km (31 miles) of wildfires over the past decade had a 10% higher incidence of brain tumors and a 5% higher chance of developing lung cancer compared with people living farther away.

Breathing in wildfire smoke while pregnant, meanwhile, raises the risk of premature birth and even worsens outcomes for people who contract Covid-19. Francesca Dominici, a Harvard University professor who led the research on the link between wildfire smoke and Covid, said Burke's new study is "well validated" and an "exciting area of research".

"The results are interesting and concerning," Dominici said, adding that there is "emergent evidence" that PM 2.5 from smoke is more toxic than particles from other sources.

George Thurston, an environmental health scientist at the NYU School of Medicine, said that there is still more to be learned about the impact of wildfire smoke, with some research suggesting fossil fuel combustion is in fact more harmful, but that the new study is an "important addition" to the estimates of exposure of wildfire smoke.

"We need studies like this to assess how big a risk this is, because the Environmental Protection Agency exempts these fires from air quality standards," Thurston said. "This sort of work helps us to work out if new standards are required."

Burke said the threat of smoke became obvious to many in California in 2020 when the skies over the San Francisco Bay Area turned orange. Some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the world have suffered from poor indoor air quality due to smoke, alleviated only by air filtration.

"The sun never came up in the Bay Area, which really brought home this is a different era we are living in," Burke said. "We naively thought we were safe in our homes but the health guidance is inadequate. In my own home I closed all the windows and doors and yet I got a monitor and found the indoor air quality was appalling."

Drastic cuts to greenhouse gases, better forest management where fuels are thinned or burned away in a controlled manner and improved guidance to households will all be required to improve the situation, Burke said. "We shouldn't think about wildfires just in terms of numbers of homes burned down but also how many people have been exposed to pollution, because there are huge impacts that we just aren't thinking about," he said.

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'Dramatic' rise in wildfire smoke triggers decline in US air quality for millions

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Millions of Americans are now routinely exposed to unhealthy plumes of wildfire smoke that can waft thousands of miles across the country, scientists have warned. Wildfires cause soot and ash to be thrown off into the air, which then carries the minuscule particles that can be inhaled by people many miles away, aggravating a variety of health conditions.

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Climate Action Must Include Mental Health

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Climate Action Must Include Mental Health

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Climate change poses serious risks to mental health and well-being, concludes a new WHO policy brief, launched today at the Stockholm+50 conference. The Organization is therefore urging countries to include mental health support in their response to the climate crisis, citing examples where a few pioneering countries have done this effectively.

The findings concur with a recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published in February this year. The IPPC revealed that rapidly increasing climate change poses a rising threat to mental health and psychosocial well-being; from emotional distress to anxiety, depression, grief, and suicidal behavior.

"The impacts of climate change are increasingly part of our daily lives, and there is very little dedicated mental health support available for people and communities dealing with climate-related hazards and long-term risk," said Dr Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health at WHO.

The mental health impacts of climate change are unequally distributed with certain groups disproportionately affected depending on factors such as socioeconomic status, gender and age. However, it is clear that climate change affects many of the social determinants that are already leading to massive mental health burdens globally. A 2021 WHO survey of 95 countries found that only 9 have thus far included mental health and psychosocial support in their national health and climate change plans.

"The impact of climate change is compounding the already extremely challenging situation for mental health and mental health services globally. There are nearly 1 billion people living with mental health conditions, yet in low- and middle-income countries, 3 out of 4 do not have access to needed services," said DévoraKestel, Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at WHO. "By ramping up mental health and psychosocial support within disaster risk reduction and climate action, countries can do more to help protect those most at risk."

The new WHO policy brief recommends 5 important approaches for governments to address the mental health impacts of climate change:

integrate climate considerations with mental health programmes;

integrate mental health support with climate action;

build upon global commitments;

develop community-based approaches to reduce vulnerabilities; and

close the large funding gap that exists for mental health and psychosocial support.

"WHO's Member States have made it very clear mental health is a priority for them. We are working closely with countries to protect people's physical and mental health from climate threats," said Dr Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, WHO climate lead, and an IPCC lead author.

Some good examples exist of how this can be done such as in the Philippines, which has rebuilt and improved its mental health services after the impact of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 or in India, where a national project has scaled up disaster risk reduction in the country while also preparing cities to respond to climate risks and address mental health and psychosocial needs.

The Stockholm Conference commemorates the 50th anniversary of the UN Conference on the Human Environment and recognizes the importance of environmental determinants for both physical and mental health.
Note to editors
WHO defines mental health as "a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully and is able to make a contribution to her or his community".

WHO defines mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) as "any type of local or outside support that aims to protect or promote psychosocial well-being and/or prevent or treat mental disorder".
For more information please contact:
WHO media inquiries: [email protected]

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Why mental health is a priority for action on climate change

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Climate change poses serious risks to mental health and well-being, concludes a new WHO policy brief, launched today at the Stockholm+50 conference. The Organization is therefore urging countries to include mental health support in their response to the climate crisis, citing examples where a few pioneering countries have done this effectively.

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How Climate Change Inflicts a Mental Toll

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How Climate Change Inflicts a Mental Toll

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Sarah Kerr, Noah Throop, Jack Healy, Aidan Gardiner and Rebecca LiebermanMarch 9, 2022

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The Unseen Toll of a Warming World (Published 2022)

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More than two-thirds of Americans are anxious about climate change. They feel grief, anger and hopelessness. We spoke to people about the invisible scars of this growing crisis.

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How Climate Change Can Impact Mental Health

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How Climate Change Can Impact Mental Health

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How climate change can impact mental health - BBC World Service

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7 Things You Need to Know About Climate Change and Conflict

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7 Things You Need to Know About Climate Change and Conflict

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International Committee of the Red Cross

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A new ICRC report, When rain turns to dust, explores how countries enduring conflict are disproportionately affected by climate change and climate variability.*

Here are seven things you need to know:

1. Of the 25 countries deemed most vulnerable to climate change, 14 are mired in conflict

The Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-Gain) Index looks at a country's vulnerability to climate change and other global challenges, set against its ability to improve resilience. Yemen, Mali, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia, all of which are dealing with conflict, are among the lowest ranked.

This is not to say that there is a direct correlation between climate change and conflict. Rather, it suggests that countries enduring conflict are less able to cope with climate change, precisely because their ability to adapt is weakened by conflict.

People living in conflict zones are therefore among the most vulnerable to the climate crisis and most neglected by climate action.

2. Climate change does not directly cause conflict, but...

Scientists generally agree that climate change does not directly cause armed conflict, but that it may indirectly increase the risk of conflict by exacerbating existing social, economic and environmental factors.

For example, when cattle herders and agricultural farmers are pushed to share diminishing resources due to a changing climate, this can stir tensions in places that lack strong governance and inclusive institutions.

3. Insecurity limits people's ability to cope with climate shocks

The following case study from Mali, which has seen years of conflict, illustrates this point.

West Africa was hit by a long drought in the 1970s that led to famine. Isa, a community leader from northern Mali, said, "At that time, we only had to search for food. We could move freely with our animals. Now, we can't even search for food. We are forced to stay in place or move to cities because of the insecurity."

In early 2019, grazing land became scarce south of Gao, due to floods. Pastoralists were worried about travelling with their livestock for fear of being attacked by armed groups or bandits. Instead, they often gathered in areas close to water sources, creating tensions with farmers and fishermen. As their animals became weaker, herders were forced to sell them at discounted prices.

Insecurity prevented them from reaching livestock markets further afield, where they could have hoped for better prices. State officials - and potential state support - were absent because of the violence. Violence also considerably limited humanitarian access.

In short, impoverished herders watched their only assets wither and were left struggling to feed their families.

4. Adapting to climate change can be relatively simple, but it tends to be complicated

In certain circumstances, a change in the crops being cultivated might be sufficient. But adapting to climate change may also require major social, cultural or economic changes. A whole agricultural system might need to change, or diseases new to a geographical area might need to be dealt with.

Concerted efforts to adapt tend to be limited in times of war. In a conflict situation, authorities and institutions are not only weak, but also preoccupied with security priorities.

5. The natural environment is frequently a casualty of conflict

Too often, the natural environment is directly attacked or damaged by warfare. Attacks can lead to water, soil and land contamination, or release pollutants into the air. Explosive remnants of war can contaminate soil and water sources, and harm wildlife. Such environmental degradation** reduces people's resilience and ability to adapt to climate change.

The indirect effects of conflict can also result in further environmental degradation, for example: authorities are less able to manage and protect the environment; large-scale displacement places strain on resources; natural resources can be exploited to sustain war economies. In Fao, south of Basra, Iraq, people blame their water and farming problems on the felling of date palms for military purposes during the Iran-Iraq war.

Conflict can also contribute to climate change. For example, the destruction of large areas of forest, or damage to infrastructure such as oil installations or big industrial facilities, can have detrimental climate consequences, including the release of large volumes of greenhouse gases into the air.

6. International humanitarian law (IHL) provides protection to the natural environment

As early as 1977, states afforded the natural environment protection against widespread, long-term and severe damage through Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions.

Watch explainer on the laws of war and nature:

Greater respect for the rules of war can reduce the harm and risks that conflict-affected communities are exposed to as a result of climate change.

For example, climate change can drive water scarcity and reduce the availability of arable land. By prohibiting attacks on objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as agricultural areas and drinking water, IHL protects these resources from additional conflict-related violence.

7. Humanitarian action must adapt

The climate crisis is altering the nature and severity of humanitarian crises. Humanitarian organizations are already struggling to respond and will not be able to meet exponentially growing needs resulting from unmitigated climate change.

Major efforts - in the form of significant systemic and structural changes, political will, good governance, investment, technical knowledge, a shift in mindsets - are needed to limit climate change.

Humanitarian organizations must collaborate to strengthen climate action. While people in conflict zones are among the most vulnerable to climate change, there is a gap in funding for climate action between stable and fragile countries. A greater share of climate finance needs to be allocated to places affected by conflict to help communities adapt to climate change.
*Climate change refers to any change in the climate that persists for an extended period - typically, decades or longer. Climate variability refers to fluctuations in climatic conditions within a smaller time frame, such as a month, a season or a year. Variations, such as the frequency or intensity of rainfall, tropical cyclones, temperatures, etc., can be exceptional and part of natural climate variability. Persistent variations may suggest a potential change in the climate. ** Environmental degradation is a process through which the natural environment is compromised. This can be an entirely natural process, or it can be accelerated or caused by human activities.

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Seven things you need to know about climate change and conflict

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Here's how countries enduring conflict are disproportionately affected by climate change and climate variability.

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A Global Security Threat: Climate Change

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A Global Security Threat: Climate Change

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A Global Security Threat: Climate Change

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How Cities Around the World are Tackling Climate Change

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How Cities Around the World are Tackling Climate Change

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How cities around the world are tackling climate change | FT

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Is Copenhagen the World's Most Sustainable City?

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Is Copenhagen the World's Most Sustainable City?

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Is Copenhagen the World's Most Sustainable City?

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To Summarize the reason that climate change effect war and conflict. Is that when some countries either get displaced of have things that other parties want for example fertile soil those parties can get into conflict all because climate change effected ways that people either live or make money.

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Climate change could be the next war. Now and for a long time humans have been fighting each other for land and other reasons, but now the world could face a bigger issue soon. Climate change could be the next war, recently climate change has been shaping the world with how it has been affecting people all around the world with floods, droughts, hurricanes, and etc. If climate change keeps getting worse then it will be an issue for everyone on earth. Also if humans keep engaging wars with each other than they will need more stuff for war like bullets and vehicles, and so make those and power those you will be using Fossil Fuels, and harmful gasses for the earth so it will speed up the process of climate change. I found interesting how this could happen, if I think about war I only know about the war of killing each other for stuff, but in the future it will be climate change.

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climate affects by displacing people and them having to move or to become a refuge and if a over abundance of them go to a country, the country with the people coming in can get angry and start a conflict or war over this problem. Also some groups use climate change to there advantage, either by getting the displaced people angry at the government and start fighting or to influence them to join there group.

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In the video I saw many examples of how climate change can fuel violence and causes harmful war. Some of the examples are when there was a drought and farmers used violence to gain materials from other farmers.

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Mental health issues due to the Climate Change

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Mental health issues due to the Climate Change

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I learned that many different age groups have their own anxiety and depression due to climate change. For example, in the video, there was a woman who was talking about how traumatic it is to wake up and see how the city looks after a natural disaster like climate change. There would be a lot of fear inside like would they live through and if they’re gonna get any help. In the video, it also said that it also affects the children. They usually can get a panic attack and it would be a trauma for the rest of their life. Those natural disasters and extreme weather events can really impact a human's life and become their own anxiety.

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The many people who had disasters caused by climate change have some trauma that they can’t control with their own feelings. For example, on BBC, a woman with trauma from the flooding said “I had panic attacks. Having fear that I would drown in my own bed.” People who had wildfire disasters from a young age experience PTSD and depression, 18 months after the fire and that is a huge effect. United Nations said climate change affects, mental health which is anxiety, depression, suicidal behavior, and more.

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Climate change can cause certain conflicts between countries or regions. This is due to some natural resources becoming more scarce, forcing countries to fight over them. Another relation is that climate change causes more extreme weather. People in certain regions will then be displaced as floods and hurricanes will force them to leave. This can also cause conflicts between regions because of the increased amounts of refugees. I found it interesting that although there are already many conflicts due to climate change, only certain areas are affected. I wonder how long it would take for these conflicts to become worldwide.

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To summarize the bugs that carry the diseases that can make us sick are getting bigger in population because the climate in increasing in temp causing more thriving temperatures to insects like ticks and mesquitos that carry these diseases now are causing more diseases to be sread and more effect to the health of the people on earth

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researchers say climate change is the main factor for causing allergy season to begin 20 days earlier than of the 1990s, also causing the pollen amounts to rise. this is proven by statistical methods by scientists and reseqarchers

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How Climate Change is Making Inequality Worse

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How Climate Change is Making Inequality Worse

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How climate change is making inequality worse - BBC News

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Climate change is the real war we are facing but what does this mean? As Climate Change has increasingly gotten worse over the years, although it is not direct, it is creating conflict in certain areas of the world, especially in Africa where growing crops and food are nurtured and protected. This is because some natural resources are becoming more and more valuable which results in countries fighting over and creating tension among each other. However, because Climate change is getting worse, authorities are less able to manage and protect the environment, making the government weaker and unstable. Another big part of this is that War also contributes to Climate Change due to the fact that crops and trees are destroyed and, an abnormal amount of greenhouse gasses are released during the War. So we are stuck in this endless cycle where we fight about something, destroy forests and nature and later, after the war is done, we fight about who gets the precious resources remaining. This is a real conflict.

I was surprised that Climate change is indirectly creating tension and conflict among countries and, while this is currently most common in Africa. I wonder how quickly this will turn into a core international problem to fight over.