Health & Climate Intersect at COP28

When it comes to taking climate action, solutions must be holistic. In many cases, literally.

At a panel on health and climate, Dr. Dave Ojijo, the Founder & CEO of Green Health Focus, explains that “healthcare professionals, studies have shown that they’re trusted members of the community.” For this reason, he purports, it is vital for doctors to be trained in climate-related health issues and stresses “the importance of integrating planetary health education into medical school curriculum.”

Dr. Ming Nan Lin, Vice Superintendent at Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital and delegate from Tzu Chi to COP28, who attended the panel, wholeheartedly agrees and adds that current doctors also need to be brought up to speed: “we need our healthcare sector professionals, even including the students, to know more about how to reduce the climate impact.”

At the same time, a huge source of public health problems as well as a huge contributor to climate change, is animal farming.

At another side event, Rabbi David Rosen, the International President of Religions For Peace, elaborates that “in order to be able to provide for the developed world’s greed for animal flesh and products, enormous wastage of water, of land resources, and then to deal with this congestion of animals for production. All these factors lead both to disease, to environmental pollution, destruction of our natural ecosystem.”

But, does it necessarily mean we’re doomed? See what solutions were presented at COP28 in our latest video.

Catch up on all our COP28 updates at https://tzuchicenter.org/global/cop28.