Mark Braidwood

THE Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report — Climate Change 2014: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability — released last week is notable for its familiar themes.

We have known about these risks for a long time now and the new report covers the wide range of recent and projected impacts affecting Australia and our global community. It reaffirms the critical importance of strong action to mitigate climate change in order to safeguard a healthy future.

In Australia we have already seen increased mortality and hospital admissions associated with extreme heat events and increased pressure on water supplies.

The new report states, with high confidence, that Australia will face more frequent and intense heatwaves, bushfires, floods, storm surges and droughts. These climatic extremes are expected to increase the risk of injury, disease and death.

The report confirms that Australia has shown “significant vulnerability” to recent extreme climatic events. The 2009 Victorian heatwave was associated with 374 excess deaths, in addition to a 46% increase in ambulance dispatches over the 3 extreme heat days.

During the 2011 Queensland floods 33 people lost their lives.

The health impacts of climate-related disasters can endure long after the event. For example, a study of New Orleans residents found widespread hurricane-related mental illness almost 2 years after Hurricane Katrina.

Beyond this, the economic costs associated with climate-related events can be astounding. The Queensland floods were estimated to have cost the government $10 billion for construction alone.

The health and economic burdens associated with climate change will add to the strains on our health systems, which will have to adapt to ensure infrastructure, resources and preparedness are available to effectively engage in disaster management. These efforts may be futile if we do not rapidly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate change could be the great disrupter of our age and threatens to reverse major health advancements. It is projected to increase the risk of under-nutrition in poor regions due to decreased food production, with estimates of up to 25 million more underweight children by 2050 compared with a future without climate change.

Health professionals will be at the forefront of managing the health impacts of climate change. However, to effectively safeguard the health of our patients and society, greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced.

Health professionals need to take leadership roles by extending a long tradition of advocacy on public health issues to call for urgent action to mitigate climate change.

We now have a narrow window to prevent the worst effects of climate change. Almost halfway through the critical decade for action on climate change, efforts to reduce emissions remain profoundly inadequate. Australia’s contribution to generating emissions is often understated. Including emissions from coal exports and those produced domestically, Australia is the 16th largest emitter of carbon dioxide globally. Planned fossil fuel developments are estimated to double our carbon dioxide output.

So what can we do as health professionals? Collectively we can lead a movement to reframe climate change as a health issue. This could reinvigorate public engagement and momentum towards finding solutions.

Individually we can divest from fossil fuels. We call on our institutions (banks, superannuation, health services, universities, etc) to divest and adopt sustainable practices. Publicly we can advocate for strong government policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and rapidly transition from fossil fuel energy generation to low-emission renewable energy technologies.

The decisions we make today about climate change will have a large bearing on the health of generations to come. We have much to gain from action and much to lose from inaction. Leaving Australia’s carbon reserves in the ground is not turning our back on centuries of progress — it is trying to ensure centuries of continued progress.

Dr Mark Braidwood and Dr Catherine Pendrey are members of Doctors for the Environment Australia.

The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Dr Eugenie Kayak and Dr Graeme Horton.