Natural and unnatural synergies: climate change policy and health equity
- Abstract
Climate change and health inequities represent two of the greatest challenges to human development in the 21st century. As the Copenhagen summit on climate change planned for December 2009 approaches, there are opportunities to use the political momentum of climate change to promote health equity. The broad-ranging policies required to address climate change have both positive and negative implications for health and health equity.1,2 Similarly, interventions to reduce health gaps will not necessarily help stabilize the climate. Poorly designed policies could easily undermine both climate and health equity goals, and reduce public support for their implementation. This paper reviews the potential tensions between climate stabilization and improving health equity and discusses how these might be resolved.
- Resource Type
- Report
- Author
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- Date
- Sept 2, 2009
- Organization Type
- Other gov
- Other
- Climate action plans Climate communication/messaging Community engagement