The paper aims to collect commentary from healthcare professionals, practitioners, advocates, and spokespeople on the position of their organization (or their own, if independent advocates) on the urgency of advancing the conversation on climate-related public health under the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COPs). The paper aims to influence policymaking at the United Nations and among member states: it will be published online and distributed through partner organizations’ networks and media.
Uttarakhand state has a composition of metamorphic rocks and tectonically active making the state vulnerable to repeated disasters and climatic risk. Socio-economic, geopolitical, environmental and ecological make up of the state makes it highly vulnerable to natural disasters, cloudburst being one among them. The average annual rainfall in Uttarakhand is about 1229 mm with the state having cold weather with snow for many months, besides receiving moderately high rainfall and mild summers given the terrain.
Every year cyclones hit India, impacting the population living along the coastline, the infrastructure, and inland areas within India. Multiple bodies of evidence suggest that cyclonic storms disrupt regular health systems depending on the category of the storm. The cascading risks emerging from such disasters present a more complex risk scenario for sustainable development.
From the Paris agreement on climate change to COP 26, the world is increasingly having conversations that suggest urgent action for change. The nexus between climate change, extreme weather events and public health consequences is indisputable and implications for the Asia Pacific Region is extremely grave with hard-won development gains soon fading away. COP 26 serves as a disappointment to many, but it must be learnt that actions occur on the ground, with national governments, not at a round-table.
