Remarks by the Director-General of WHO on “Planetary Challenges and Personal Health” at the Geneva International School – April 22, 2024

Good afternoon, it is such an honor to be here, especially as an Ecolint parent, and I thank Sarah and Ecolint for inviting me to speak to you today on one of the most important issues of our time: the health implications of climate change.

Five years ago, in 2019, I had the privilege of traveling to Tuvalu, a small island in the Pacific Ocean, and one of the countries most at risk from rising sea levels.

I met a remarkable young boy named Falou.

Falou told me about the conversations he had with his friends about what they would do if Tuvalu sank.

Some of his friends said they would leave to seek refuge in Fiji or elsewhere, while others said they would stay and sink along with their island home.

It concerned children from 11 to 13 years old.

I’ve never forgotten that conversation. Children should be children, laughing and playing, and not think about their survival.

While rising sea levels pose a threat to Falou and his friends, they are not much of a threat to most people around the world, including those of us who live in a landlocked country like Switzerland.

However, the threats to health from climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss are not distant or hypothetical risks for the future. They are here and now – and they threaten us all.

The climate crisis is a health crisis.

More frequent and severe weather events such as cyclones and floods are costing lives, causing injuries and damaging clinics and hospitals.

Heat-related deaths among people over 65 have increased by 75 percent worldwide over the past two decades.

Air pollution kills 7 million people every year due to diseases such as lung cancer, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Changing weather patterns, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, are contributing to record numbers of cholera outbreaks.

Our warming planet is expanding the population of mosquitoes, which spread diseases like dengue, malaria, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever to places they’ve never encountered before.

And drought and water scarcity have a negative impact on food production, making healthy food less affordable.

Illegal wildlife trade also increases the risk of pathogens passing from animals to humans, which could cause a pandemic.

All this shows how the health of humans, animals and our environment are intertwined in a bond that is inseparable but fragile.

In fact, this is not a new realization.

In the 5^e A century before Christ, the father of medicine, Hippocrates, said: “The physician treats, but nature heals.”

If our planet were a patient, she would be admitted to intensive care. The vital signs are alarming.

There is fever and the average temperature on earth is rising due to the greenhouse effect.

Lung capacity is affected by the destruction of forests that absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.

And many of the earth’s water sources – the blood of life – are polluted.

Most disturbing of all, its condition is not improving, but worsening.

It’s no wonder that human health suffers when the health of the planet we depend on is at risk.

Our generation is now relearning what people have always known, but what we have forgotten or ignored since the Industrial Revolution: that when we harm our environment, we harm ourselves.

For centuries we have plundered our planet in the name of progress.

Now we are paying the price, with a triple planetary crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

Together we got into this mess. Together we have to get ourselves out.

Although we face many challenges, we also have reasons to be optimistic.

The climate commitments that countries are making under the Paris Climate Agreement are becoming more ambitious – and are increasingly taking into account the health benefits of climate action.

The global economy is starting to decarbonize. Renewable energy is now the cheapest, fastest growing and healthiest form of energy.

And electric cars are capturing an increasing share of the market. Countries are investing more in climate resilience.

At WHO, we have made climate change and health a strategic priority.

We support countries to build more climate-resilient, climate-friendly healthcare systems.

But tackling the health impacts of climate change means tackling the causes of climate change, which means action in every sector.

We must transform our energy and transportation systems to free the world from its addiction to fossil fuels.

And we must transform our food systems to produce food that is healthy, sustainable and affordable.

The private sector has a key role to play in all of this, as producers and suppliers of energy, transport and food.

We need the private sector to invest in renewables and green technologies;

To set ambitious sustainability goals and reduce CO2 emissions;

To reduce waste and promote recycling; and more.

But the private sector responds to what consumers want, meaning the education sector also plays a crucial role in shaping the next generation of consumers.

And a school system like Ecolint can play a particularly important role, because it educates students from all over the world, who travel all over the world to study, work and live.

The ideas planted here can bear fruit worldwide.

We can all play a role. So what can you do?

Use your brain first. Educate yourself on how climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss affect health.

Second, use your voice. Talk to your friends and family about what you learn, and use your social media profiles to draw attention to the health impacts of climate change. You will find a lot of information on WHO’s social media channels and our website.

Third, use your credit card – or your parents’ credit card. What I mean is that the purchases you make and the products you buy can make a difference.

Whenever possible, buy products that are locally and sustainably made, rather than products that have come a long way.

Reduce your ecological footprint by using public transport, carpooling or cycling.

Reduce your use of single-use plastics.

Reduce your energy consumption by turning off lights and electronics when you leave a room.

Recycle as much as possible and compost food waste.

And participate in community cleanup events and volunteer for environmental organizations.

You might think that what you do makes no difference. If everyone thinks like that, nothing will change.

But if everyone makes a small change, we can make a big difference. Because we are all in this together.

On Christmas Eve 1967, less than four months before his assassination, Martin Luther King said, “It really comes down to this: that all life is connected. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, bound in one garment of fate. What affects one fate indirectly affects all.”

Despite everything that makes us different, we are one species, sharing the same DNA and the same planet. We have no future other than a common future.

Thank you again for having me, and thank you all for your commitment to a healthier and more sustainable future for us all.

Thank you.