Medical and military experts agree that when it comes to climate change, just as in their own fields, “Prevention is the best solution”.


Today in London, leading doctors, scientists and security experts met to discuss the ‘Health and Security Perspectives of Climate Change‘.

 

You can follow tweets from the conference: #healthandsecurity
Conference program and speakers: http://climatechange.bmj.com/programme

They urged governments to enact legislation to stop the building of new, unabated coal-fired power stations. (‘Unabated’ means no new coal-fired

power stations unless they have Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) underground. And because we know that ‘clean coal’ doesn’t exist, this would actually mean no new coal.) Like Greenpeace, they advocate for a phase out of existing coal plants, which are harmful to human health.

 

You can read the statement and policy demands, which will also be published in the British Medical Journal, here. Our International Executive Director, Kumi Naidoo, has also endorsed the statement.

 

This conference is a timely reminder that it is not only ‘environmentalists’ who want action on climate change – a broad alliance across many social and economic sectors agrees that all countries need to act.

 

If we allow it to continue, climate change impacts will:

“… trigger conflict within and between countries. Humanitarian crises will further burden military resources through the need for rescue missions and aid. Mass migration will also increase, triggered by both environmental stress and conflict, thus leading to serious further security issues.”

 

Together, experts from participating groups such as Health Care Without Harm and the Earth Security Initiative, among many others, discussed the climate solutions possible within their respective fields, as well as the political solutions that they will advocate to national governments.

 

The conference also noted the added health benefits of taking action:

“Changes in power generation improve air quality. … Reducing EU greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020 (compared to 1990 levels) would save over €80 billion a year in healthcare costs and through increased productivity of a healthier workforce.”

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