Assessing the impact of the climate crisis on public health and nutrition security

The climate crisis poses a significant risk to global food security. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and shifting precipitation patterns impact food production, disrupting food supply chains, increasing food prices, and diminishing food safety. These effects are particularly apparent in developing countries, where vulnerable populations struggle to access nutritious foods and small farmers face financial challenges. Tackling the impacts of the climate crisis on food security is crucial to safeguard the future availability of food. This brief highlights the importance of nutrition security and its preparedness against climate change while documenting learnings from different geographies.

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in 2023, key players agreed to unlock crucial funding, particularly for the loss and damage fund, to accelerate climate action. High-quality evidence and projections presented at COP28 highlighted how catastrophic events can reverse the progress made towards development and push people back into extreme poverty. Indeed, changes in the climate pattern, warming temperatures, and increased precipitation could cause a loss of 150,000 lives per year, with the risk likely to double in the next 20 years. Data presented at COP27 in 2022 stressed that ignoring climate change could trigger a global humanitarian crisis, with 3.4 million annual deaths by the century's end and India bearing the brunt of one million heat-related fatalities in the next 67 years.

The COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health, endorsed by 123 countries, emphasised the need to build policies that put health at the forefront of climate measures. It acknowledged the importance of public health in enhancing climate resilience and facilitating successful adjustments in diverse sectors such as food and agriculture, water and sanitation, housing, urban planning, healthcare, transport, and energy. The declaration urged countries to enhance the ability of health systems to anticipate and respond to climate-sensitive diseases and health risks. In addition, the health impact of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be recognised to develop sound strategies and national adaptation plans to curb such emissions. Notably, the declaration underlined the valuable insights gained from the Covid-19 pandemic and underscored the significance of constructing resilient communities and strengthening health care systems.

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This paper has been authored by Shweta Khandelwal, Pooja Arora, Snigdha Ranjan, Shoba Suri, ORF.