In June the Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA) published a new discussion paper Towards a National Strategy for Climate, Health, and Well-being for Australia.
CPD fellow Fiona Armstrong is the founder and Executive Director of CAHA and a co-author of the discussion paper.
The paper cites strong empirical evidence that climate change poses significant immediate and long term impacts to the health of Australians, including in the following areas. The paper also examines national mitigation and adaptation policies, with a particular focus on how effectively they acknowledge and respond to health-related impacts of climate change.
The paper finds that, despite the significant potential for ambitious mitigation policies to benefit human health and lead to substantial cost savings, health and the health sector have been afforded little consideration in the development of national climate change policy in Australia. It calls for a national strategy for climate, health and wellbeing that seeks to:
