Climate change, Inequality, and Health Tyndall Talks

This is the highlights of recorded seminar on the topic of Climate Change, Inequality, and Health which took place online last June 2, 2021 with guests Ronnie Murungu, Batsirai Muruju, and Paul Hunter hosted by Jo Greere and Roger Few.

This seminar focuses on inequalities of health risk. Climate change threatens to exacerbate health issues across the globe, but the impacts will not be evenly spread either between or within countries. They are likely to be experienced most acutely by those already facing poor environmental health conditions and denied access to adequate health care. At the start of 2020, the climate change community was hopeful that, following the widespread declarations of climate emergencies in 2019, the year would herald new momentum in the fight against climate change. That was not to be, however, as COVID 19 spread globally with devastating impacts. Whilst many in the Global North call for a green recovery from the pandemic, in the Global South, COVID comes on top of the climate crisis. The pandemic clearly demonstrates the need for universal access to affordable and reliable water, sanitation and hygiene services, as well as more equitable access to health services. At the same time the pandemic overlaid on the climate crisis will make it more challenging for this transition to be achieved and highlight the need for greater community and service delivery resilience to extreme weather events and other crises. This seminar will reflect on how the COVID crisis has overlaid the climate crisis and explore how to address issues of health inequality and climate action in the post-COVID recovery.

(Royalty Free Music by Benjamin Tissot)