Climate-linked health agenda can be part of Dubai cover text: COP28 Director-General

Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi, director-general of the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), expressed on December 3 that the climate-health agenda may find space in the cover text of COP28 if countries agree to it.

The announcement was made on the sidelines of a meeting where the declaration on climate and health was formally announced.   

“The agenda can be part of the cover text if all countries agree to it. It is not just  a declaration. We are serious about it,” said the official in response to a question posed by this reporter.

“We must rapidly protect and promote their (climate-affected people) health and well-being while improving the climate resilience of healthcare systems and reduce climate-health risks,” added Al Suwaidi.

“Over 120 countries endorsed the COP28 Declaration on Climate and Health on December 2 during the World Climate Action Summit (and) $1 billion of climate health financing was galvanised,” reads a statement issued by the COP28 presidency.

“The Presidency, WHO (World Health Organization) and UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention held the first-ever climate and health ministerial with a historic 100 health ministries to close health-related gaps in Paris Agreement implementation to 2030,” added the statement.

However, India, one of the highly vulnerable countries, is a notable absentee in the list of signatory countries that COP28 has provided. The successive Global Climate Risk Index reports, released by non-profit Germanwatch on the sidelines of earlier global summits, had stated that India is one of the topmost countries in the world in terms of climate-linked mortality.   

Declaration referred pandemic, air pollution

The declaration referred to various key issues linked to health, including air pollution. “We, on the occasion of the first Health Day at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), express our grave concern about the negative impacts of climate change on health. We stress the importance of addressing the interactions between climate change and human health and wellbeing in the context of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement…” read the declaration, called COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health.

“Strengthening the development and implementation of policies that maximise the health gains from mitigation and adaptation actions and prevent worsening health impacts from climate change (in) the populations most vulnerable to the health impacts of climate change” was identified as the key goal.

Facilitating collaboration on human, animal, environment and climate health challenges, such as by implementing a One Health approach; addressing the environmental determinants of health; strengthening research on the linkages between environmental and climatic factors and antimicrobial resistance; and intensifying efforts for the early detection of zoonotic spillovers have also been highlighted alongside “sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, including from just transitions, lower air pollution”.

India wary of non-COP processes

On the issue of India not signing, Al Suwaidi told this reporter on December 3 that they are engaging with all countries, including India, who are yet to sign. “Our job is to facilitate; the final decision lies with the countries,” said the official.

Senior officials of WHO, the agency that facilitated the process, said they have been engaging with all countries including India on the issue.

“I am sure the dialogue on the declaration will continue. From our side, we will ensure that. India is an important partner, a vast country with a huge population; also, a country with big technologies … I am sure we can find a way,” said Maria Neira, director of WHO’s public health and environment department on the sidelines of a meeting. “We really do not know why India has not signed,” said another.

A source in the Indian delegation confirmed that there has been no plan to be part of the high level ministerial meeting being convened on the agenda on climate and health, as neither Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya, nor any senior level officials are attending COP28.

“This (climate health declaration) is the third major pledge-cum-declaration, after the food- and energy-linked ones which India refused to be part of. It is not a good omen after the Indian Prime Minister showcased India’s leadership in global climate action,” said an Indian observer in Dubai, stating that India could have negotiated on parts of the contents not acceptable to it.

A senior official in the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change sought to underplay the issue, stating that these are not part of the official COP process. India is actively engaging in the formal negotiation, the official added.

“Such endeavours, with time, often turn into major agendas. Loss and damage funding, though being pushed by the least developed countries and civil society for decades, was not part of even the negotiation text when COP27 started. But it is now a major issue and the first one being settled in COP28. Similarly, the International Solar Alliance launched by India and others, gradually catapulted into a major facilitator to the COP process,” explained a senior COP analyst.