WHO Director-General's remarks on 'Planetary challenges and personal health” at the International School of Geneva – 22 April 2024

Good afternoon, it's such an honour to be here, especially as an Ecolint parent myself, and I thank Sarah and Ecolint for the invitation to address you today on one of the most important issues of our time - the health impacts of climate change.

Five years ago, in 2019, I had the privilege of travelling to Tuvalu, a small island in the Pacific, and one of the countries that is most at risk from rising sea levels.

I met a remarkable young boy named Falou.

Falou told me about the conversations he had with his friends about what they would do if Tuvalu sinks.

Some of his friends said they would leave to seek refuge in Fiji or somewhere else, while others said they would stay and sink with their island home.

These were children, 11 to 13 years old.

I have never forgotten that conversation. Children should be children, laughing and playing, not thinking about their survival.

While rising sea levels are a threat for Falou and his friends, they are not such a threat for most people around the world, including those of us living in a landlocked country like Switzerland.

However, the threats to health from climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss are not distant or hypothetical risks in the future. They are right here and right now - and they are threats to all of us.

The climate crisis is a health crisis.

More frequent and severe weather events like cyclones and floods take lives, cause injuries and damage clinics and hospitals.

Heat-related deaths among people aged over 65 years have increased by 75 percent globally in the past 20 years.

Air pollution kills 7 million people every year, from diseases like lung cancer, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Changing weather patterns, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, are contributing to record numbers of cholera outbreaks.

Our warming planet is expanding the range of mosquitoes, which spread diseases like dengue, malaria, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever into places that have never dealt with them before.

And drought and water scarcity affect food production, making healthy diets less affordable.

Illegal wildlife trading also increases the risk of pathogens spilling over from animals to humans, which can trigger a pandemic.

All of this shows how the health of humans, animals and our environment are woven together in a bond that is inextricable, yet fragile.

In fact, this is not a new realisation.

In the 5^thcentury BCE, the father of medicine, Hippocrates, said, "The physician treats, but nature heals."

If our planet were a patient, it would be admitted to intensive care. Its vital signs are alarming.

It is running a fever, with average global temperatures increasing due to the greenhouse effect.

Its lung capacity is compromised, with the destruction of forests that absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.

And many of the earth's water sources - its lifeblood - are contaminated.

Most concerning of all, its condition is not improving, but deteriorating.

It's no wonder that human health suffers when the health of the planet on which we depend is in peril.

Our generation is now re-learning what humans have always known, but which, since the industrial revolution, we have forgotten or ignored - that when we harm our environment, we harm ourselves.

For centuries we have plundered our planet in the name of progress.

Now we are paying the price, with a triple planetary crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

Collectively, we got ourselves into this mess. Collectively, we must get ourselves out of it.

Although we face many challenges, we also have reasons to be optimistic.

The climate commitments that countries are making under the Paris Climate Agreement are becoming more ambitious - and increasingly take account of the health benefits of climate action.

The global economy is beginning to decarbonize. Renewable energy is now the cheapest, fastest growing, and healthiest, form of energy.

And electric cars are gaining an increasing share of the market. Countries are investing more in climate resilience.

At WHO, we have made climate change and health a strategic priority.

We're supporting countries to build more climate resilient, climate-friendly health systems.

But addressing the health impacts of climate change means addressing the drivers of climate change, which means action in every sector.

We need to transform our energy and transport systems, to wean the world off its addiction to fossil fuels.

And we need to transform our food systems, to produce food that is healthy, sustainable and affordable.

The private sector has a key role to play in all of this, as producers and providers of energy, transport and food.

We need the private sector to invest in renewable energy sources and green technologies;

To set ambitious sustainability goals and reduce carbon emissions;

To reduce waste and promote recycling; and more.

But the private sector responds to what consumers want, which means the education sector also plays a vital role in shaping the next generation of consumers.

And a school system like Ecolint can play an especially important role, because it educates students from all over the world, who will go all over the world to study, work and live.

The ideas that are planted here can bear fruit globally.

All of us can play a part. So what can you do?

First, use your brain. Educate yourself about how climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss affect health.

Second, use your voice. Talk to your friends and family about what you learn, and use your social media profiles to draw attention to the health effects of climate change. You'll find plenty of information on WHO's social media channels and our website.

Third, use your credit card - or your parents' credit card. What I mean is, the purchases you make and the products you buy can make a difference.

Whenever possible, buy products made locally and sustainably, rather than products that have travelled a long way.

Reduce your carbon footprint by using public transportation, carpooling, or biking.

Reduce your use of single-use plastics.

Reduce your energy use by turning off lights and electronics when you leave a room.

Recycle as much as you can and compost food waste.

And participate in community clean-up events, and volunteer for environmental organizations.

You might think that what you do doesn't make a difference. If everyone thinks like that, nothing will change.

But if everyone makes a small change, we can make a huge difference. Because we're all in this together.

On Christmas Eve 1967, less than four months before his assassination, Martin Luther King said, "It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly."

For everything that makes us different, we are one species, sharing the same DNA, and the same planet. We have no future but a common future.

Thank you once again for having me, and thank you all for your commitment to a healthier and more sustainable future for all of us.

I thank you.

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