Climate change poses a fundamental threat to human health, affecting both the physical environment as well as aspects of natural and human systems. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report, up to 3.6 billion people live in areas that are extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The Asia-Pacific region is particularly vulnerable due to its geographic and climatic diversity, ecosystem variations, dependence on natural resources and agriculture sectors, high poverty rates, population density, susceptibility to natural disasters, and, most importantly, the lack of adaptive capacity to the impacts of climate change.
Climate change will continue to create new threats and uncertainties, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable communities. Extreme weather events—including floods, droughts, storms, heatwaves, sea-level rise and wildfiresstrain existing systems, increase disease spread and transmission, and hinder communities from adapting and absorbing the additional strain. Marginalized groups, including women and girls, children, people of diverse sexuality, Indigenous and tribal communities, forest dependent communities, ethnic minorities, low-income communities, people with disabilities, migrants and displaced persons, older populations, and those with underlying or existing health conditions, bear the greatest burden.
In recent years, the perception of climate change and the climate crisis has transformed considerably. It is no longer seen solely through a scientific or environmental lens but as a human crisis, where planetary health is inseparable from human health. With this paradigm shift, addressing the climate crisis requires not just scientific solutions but also political action. Responses must account for inequalities, inequities, vulnerabilities, power dynamics, access to resources and social justice.
We strongly advocate for a climate justice approach to tackling climate change, one that moves beyond science and economics to address historic injustices and systemic inequalities. Therefore, our response to addressing the health impact of climate change underscores the importance of the equity imperative and climate justice at its core, ensuring that those most responsible bear the highest mitigation and adaptation costs. Recognizing the existing imbalance between causation and harm and the unequal historical responsibility that countries and communities bear in relation to the climate crisis, we must advocate for solutions that address systemic, socioeconomic, and intergenerational inequalities.