more_vert
For 25 years, Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) has championed a once under-recognised argument: protecting the environment is fundamental to protecting human health.
When DEA was founded, climate change was widely perceived as a future environmental problem, biodiversity loss as a conservation issue, and pollution and environmental degradation as a side-effect of progress.
A quarter of a century later, we know better. The physical and mental health impacts of climate change are no longer distant or abstract. We have a better understanding of the centrality of biodiversity to food systems, medicines, and infectious disease risks, and the pollution of our air, water and land are no longer acceptable.
This shift reflects, in part, the tireless efforts of DEA and partner organisations to shift perceptions within the health sector and beyond, challenging the status quo, generating the momentum for change, and providing a vision for a healthy future.
On 24th April, DEA will mark , a milestone that underscores the enduring importance of a strong and independent medical voice in driving evidence-based action on climate and health.
25 years of advocacy
DEA was established by a small group of Australian doctors who recognised the inextricable link between planetary health and human health. They understood that climate change and environmental degradation were harming human health, and that this should be of ethical and practical concern to doctors. They also recognised the value of the medical profession’s trusted voice to translate evidence into advocacy across sectors, policy, and public discourse.
The founders, David Shearman, Tony McMichael, Bill Castleden, Grant Blashki, Kevin Chamberlin, Roscoe Taylor and Colin Butler, set about communicating evidence, providing education and media articles, meeting with policymakers, and building networks with like-minded groups. Policies and a modus operandi were established, with a particular focus on climate change, energy policy and forest protection. As healthcare’s harmful environmental impact became increasingly apparent, getting ‘our own house in order’ and developing expertise in environmentally sustainable healthcare also became important.
DEA and the Australian health sector are indebted to these pioneers and those who have followed. Over the years since, DEA has grown in size, reputation and influence, with members from all specialties and career stages.
DEA’s members have often demonstrated courage, integrity and prescience. They have often been the first to raise the alarm about emerging health threats, and to present evidence of the harms alongside possible interventions through public and medical education, political influence and public debate.
Campaigns and collaborations
Reducing the direct and indirect health harms of fossil fuels has been a key focus for DEA. The 2010 campaign, Coal is a health hazard helped shift public and policy discourse, laying the groundwork for many publications, parliamentary briefings, legal activity and community advocacy. DEA was the first Australian health organisation to hold a medical briefing on the Human Health Impacts of Coal in a parliament building, and the first health group to highlight the health concerns associated with unconventional gas mining. In 2012, DEA legally opposed a new coal-fired power station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, arguing the project would harm public health locally (air pollution) and globally (greenhouse gas emissions). More recently, DEA challenged NOPSEMA’s (the offshore energy regulator) approval of Woodside’s Scarborough offshore gas project in the Federal Court. While the case was unsuccessful, it established an important precedent confirming DEA’s standing to challenge offshore fossil fuel approvals and securing a rare maximum costs order for an environmental not-for-profit.
Extensive collaborations have also been central to DEA’s influence and impact.
For example, a long-standing partnership with the AMA has helped to bring the link between the environment and health into mainstream medical discourse. Joint initiatives include a poster in 2006, titled Global warming: Good for mosquitoes — bad for your health. It highlighted that ‘a sick earth will affect your health’ and the role that doctors can have in prevention and mitigation. Relevant then, and even more so today. Subsequent posters included biodiversity loss, the impacts of the coal industry and the health advantages of active transport. These posters were distributed annually to all Australian GPs for several years through a collaboration with the RACGP.
DEA has also received international recognition. As the Health Professional Association constituency representative on the steering group of the World Health Organization’s Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH), DEA contributes to shaping global responses and connects with health professionals worldwide.
Looking ahead to another 25 years
Yet while a 25th anniversary is a time to reflect on DEA’s sizeable achievements, it is also a time for candour. Humanity is living far beyond the means of the planet, and access to resources is grossly maldistributed between and within nations. Environmental change is accelerating and we are inching closer to biophysical tipping points that will result in irreversible change. Commercial influences are damaging our health and our environment, and governments and international institutions are collectively failing to act to curb emissions and protect nature. The consequences for health are severe.
So how should DEA respond over the next 25 years?
The next phase of DEA’s work, and of the medical profession more broadly, must focus on implementation. This means embedding environmentally sustainable and climate resilient policies across the health care sector, strengthening preparedness for extreme weather events, and ensuring that responses are equitable, with particular attention to those most at risk.
These actions require continued advocacy to address the upstream drivers of harm, predominantly fossil fuel emissions, ensuring that the health of current and future generations remains central in decision making at every level.
In the face of escalating crises, we must also care for ourselves and for each other. Working together to find practical solutions and make change, as part of a group of like-minded doctors and medical students, can help protect our mental health and well-being.
25 years after its founding, DEA continues to demonstrate the power of the medical voice to protect health through care of the environment. In the decades to come, as the planetary conditions that support health are increasingly tested, that voice will not only be valuable — it will be essential.
We invite you to join us at the DEA gala event!
Eugenie Kayak ANZCA, MPH is a consultant anaesthetist and Enterprise Professor in Sustainable Healthcare at the University of Melbourne. She is presently Doctors for the Environment Australia’s Sustainable Healthcare convenor, having been a past board member for over a decade and Co-Chair.
Angie Bone FAFPHM is a public health physician and Professor of Practice in Health and Climate at Monash University in Melbourne. She is Co-Chair of Doctors for the Environment Australia.
Kimberly Humphrey MBBS, MPHTM, MIDI, MHLM FACEM is a public health medical consultant and senior emergency medicine specialist for SA Health. She is Co-Chair of Doctors for the Environment Australia.