Earth Would Be In ICU
Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus thanked Brazil for hosting COP30 and called on leaders at the summit to put health at the center of climate decisions and recognize health as a measure of climate ambition and success.
“WHO thanks Brazil for hosting #COP30,” he said in a post on
In his opening speech at the COP30 Leaders Summit on November 7, Ghebreyesus emphasized that a sick planet means sick people and that the climate crisis is a health crisis.
“If our planet were sick, it would be in intensive care. Its vital signs are alarming. It has a high fever and the average global temperature is increasing year by year. Lung capacity is compromised by the destruction of forests that absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. And many of the world’s water resources, its lifeblood, are contaminated. Most importantly, its condition is worsening. A sick planet means sick people. The climate crisis is a health crisis now, not in the future,” he said.
Describing health as the strongest argument for climate action, Ghebreyesus shared how the World Health Organization supports more than 100 countries in creating climate-friendly and climate-resilient health systems through the Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH).
He underlined that health should be made a formal issue in UN climate negotiations.
The 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take place in Belem, Brazil, between 10-21 November.
The COP meets annually unless the Parties decide otherwise. The first COP meeting was held in Berlin, Germany, in March 1995. The COP meets in Bonn, the headquarters of the secretariat, unless a Party offers to host the session.
