WHO says Terra would be in ‘intensive care’ if she were a patient

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned this Thursday in Nairobi that if there were a sick person on planet Earth, he would be “in intensive care”.

Tedros Adhanom spoke at the opening of the VI United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6).

“Vital signs are alarming,” the doctor who heads WHO told a dozen African heads of state and government and ministers from around the world gathered for a high-level meeting of UNEA-6, the country’s main decision-making body. environmental solutions at the global level.

“There is a fever, and each of the last nine months has been the hottest on record,” the WHO chief said, adding that the Earth’s “lung capacity” has been compromised by the destruction of forests that absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.

Tedros recalled that many of the Earth’s water sources – a vital element – are polluted, and warned that the most worrying thing is that its condition is “rapidly deteriorating”.

In this context, he noted that it is not surprising that human health “suffers” when the health of the planet is “at risk.”

As an example of this reality, Tedros said that increasing heat waves contribute to “more cardiovascular disease” and air pollution causes “lung cancer, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.”

Chemicals such as lead cause “mental retardation, cardiovascular disease and kidney disease,” and water shortages affect food production, making healthy food “less accessible,” he stressed.

Climate change is causing changes in the behavior, distribution, movement, range and intensity of mosquitoes, birds and other animals, which spread infectious diseases such as dengue fever and malaria to new areas.

He added that the illegal wildlife trade also increases the risk of zoonotic contamination, which could trigger a pandemic.

According to the WHO director-general, the causes of this crisis are “multisectoral”, as are its consequences, and this is what the response should be.

“We are collectively in this mess. We have to get out of this collectively. No country or agency can do this alone,” Tedros defended.

UNEA-6 will bring together more than 5,000 representatives of governments, civil society and the private sector this week in Nairobi, including 150 ministers and deputy ministers from more than 180 countries, according to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) headquarters which is located in Nairobi, Kenya.

The summit aims to examine how multilateralism can help tackle the so-called “triple planetary crisis”: climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, pollution and waste generation.

At this sixth session since the Assembly launched in 2014, countries are weighing in on 19 resolutions in the Kenyan capital, covering issues such as stopping desertification, fighting air pollution or limiting chemical pollution.

Resolutions by UNEA, which includes 193 UN member states, are not legally binding but are considered an important first step towards achieving global environmental agreements and national policies.