Climate change and health: what’s the connection?

Climate change is leading to more and more violations of the right to life and the right to health. In fact, it has been defined as “the greatest global health threat facing the world in the 21st century”.

How does climate change undermine the right to health?

Extreme weather events, such as heat wavesthe floodsthe droughtsthe forest fires and the tropical cycloneswhich are becoming much more likely and more serious due to human-caused climate change, represent a serious threat to people’s right to physical and mental health. There is not only dead and injured people as a result of these phenomena, but the public health facilities may be damaged and destroyedand diseases can spread among displaced people.

The increase of extreme heat in all regions has caused more cases of diseases, more people dying and getting sick, and more people migrating.

A significant number of deaths are expected from climate change, and an even greater number of people will develop disabilities and health problems. The World Economic Forum estimates that, by 2050, Climate change will kill 14.5 million people worldwide.

How do fossil fuels undermine the right to health?

The burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) is the main driver of climate change. Furthermore, fossil fuel extraction, processing, transportation and burning operations are detrimental to the health of communities living near where they are carried out.

The burning of fossil fuels is one of the main causes of air pollutionan important factor promoting poor health. Air pollution has been linked to heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, asthma and other chronic diseases. According to one study, more than 5 million people die every year due to air pollution derived from the use of fossil fuels.

For all these reasons, Amnesty has supported a proposal fossil fuel non-proliferation treatywhose purpose is to accelerate the transition to renewable energies.

How do we know that climate change is causing extreme weather events?

The scientific community is increasingly faster and more accurate in assessing the extent to which climate change has influenced certain meteorological phenomena. Scientific networks such as World Weather Attribution and Climate Central carry out rapid attribution studies to know the influence of climate change in certain floods, droughts, hurricanes, wildfires and other extreme weather events.

For example, in April and May 2024, countries across Asia, including Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, recorded temperatures much higher than 40 °C for many daysexacerbating health risks for residents in refugee camps and conflict zones, including 1.7 million displaced people in Gaza. World Weather Attribution concluded that these heat waves were more frequent and more extreme due to climate change.

Which communities suffer the worst consequences?

The effects of climate change on the right to health are being felt everywhere, on all continents. However, communities on the front lines of climate change They are the ones who suffer the worst consequences.

A wide variety of socioeconomic factors influence whether people can lead healthy lives. Among them are their ability to access to water, food, housing and medical care, the degree of marginalization they suffer due to reasons of racism, xenophobia, homophobia and sexismand if they live in a healthy environment. That means the population groups listed below are among those most at risk for climate-related health harms:

• people living in poverty,
• women and girls,
• indigenous peoples,
• people who suffer racial discrimination,
• homeless people,
• people living in informal settlements.

If the measures adopted to combat it do not prioritize those who are most vulnerable to it, climate change will worsen global inequality and will make people who are already at health risk more likely to get sick.

Isn’t it a question of climate justice?

Most States in the world have agreed to be bound by international human rights instruments that require them to respect, protect and fulfill human rights, including the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Climate change must be seen as an issue of injustice, much as we view other human rights violations.

All the climate justice work Amnesty highlights the effects of climate change on human rights and proposes measures to prevent and recover from these harms. This includes campaigning for end to the use of fossil fuels and in favor of increase climate finance by the countries with the greatest responsibility for climate change, in order to promote climate justice in the countries with the least responsibility.

What has Amnesty International said about this?

Amnesty has already published research materials on climate-related health damages in multiple countries, including:

• Pakistanwhere floods killed more than 1,600 people, injured 12,800 more and severely damaged the health system in 2022;
• Libyawhere Storm Daniel caused two dams to collapse and at least 4,352 people died in 2023 as a result;
• Austriawhere Amnesty advocated for emergency shelters to remain open year-round to mitigate the effects of heat waves on homeless people;
• Spainwhere Amnesty has expressed concern about the serious risks of extreme heat and pollution to the health of thousands of people in the summer months.

Amnesty’s research has also revealed how governments have not protected the procedural rights of communities who live near fossil fuel activities, including their right to access information, public participation, justice and an effective remedy, and, in the case of indigenous peoples, their right to free, prior and consent. informed.

Two examples are the struggle of the Wet’suwet’en nation against the Coastal GasLink pipeline in Canada and the harm to the Ogoni people of Shell’s operations in Nigeria.

What do other organizations say?

Amnesty International is not the only global human rights organization that has begun to highlight how climate change undermines health. Human Rights Watch, for example, has published studies on the damage caused by climate change to the health of indigenous peoples in Canadadisabled and elderly people in the British Columbialow-income racialized people who are pregnant in USA and people with disabilities in Spain.

Other entities and NGOs have carried out similar studies, for example on the health effects of heat waveshe danger of wildfire smoke and the disproportionate effects of climate change on LGBTI people.