Nearly 80 countries and organizations gathered at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belem, Brazil to launch the Belem Health and Climate Adaptation Action Plan, which aims to strengthen global health systems to better deal with the impacts of climate change.
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Meanwhile, some 35 charities, under the banner of the Climate and Health Funders Alliance, have announced an initial commitment of US$300 million for integrated action to address the causes of climate change as well as its consequences for human health. These funds will also support the implementation of the Belem Health Action Plan and will be used to accelerate health solutions where they are needed most, a statement said.
At an event organized by COP30 organisers, the Global Climate and Health Alliance and Carbon Copy, speakers highlighted the acute financial gap for adaptation, and even less so for health-focused adaptation plans.
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“Every year, more than half a million people are lost to heat, and more than 150,000 deaths are linked to exposure to bushfire smoke,” said Dr. Marina Romanello, Executive Director of Countdown at the University College London Institute for Global Health. “Health systems, already stretched and underfunded, are struggling to cope with these increasing pressures, and most remain unprepared for what is coming.”
The Lancet Countdown 2025 report on health and climate change, which documented the global health impact of climate change, is the basis for the Belém Health Action Plan.
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This report, published last month, revealed that the number of deaths linked to climate change has reached millions, and that millions more are affected by extreme heat, torrential rains, floods, severe storms and creeping desertification.
Discussion at the Belém event highlighted that the health financing gap was a critical component of the overall adaptation financing gap, and that the world’s inaction had exacerbated the situation and the costs.
The latest Adaptation Gap Report estimated that developing country requirements would be in the range of US$310 to US$365 billion annually by 2035. The international community is struggling to mobilize the US$40 billion annual flows promised in Glasgow in 2021.
“According to India’s 2023 National Communication to the UNFCCC, the country will need $643 billion between now and 2030 to adapt to climate change under a business-as-usual scenario,” said Dr Vishwas Chitali, Fellow, Energy, Environment and Water Council of India and a UN Research Fellow. “India has made significant progress, spending $146 billion in 2021-22 alone, equivalent to 5.6% of GDP, a significant rise from the 3.7% spent in 2015-16.”
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(Tags for translation) Belem Action Plan for Health and Climate Adaptation
