Enviro NewsAsia, Antalya- The 31st UN Climate Chan ge Conference (COP31) opens on Monday, 9 November, with a dedicated Health Day, putting the link between climate change and public health at the top of the agenda. Developed by the COP31 Presidency with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), the program brings together ministers, country delegations, technical experts and civil society representatives. It includes four high-level panel discussions and a ministerial roundtable on building resilient health systems, covering digital health, climate-sensitive health technologies, humanitarian aid and climate-health financing.
The Presidency also launches the Antalya Initiative for Health Resilience (AIR), a voluntary, non-binding initiative to share knowledge and experience on health resilience through case studies, documented experience and peer exchange. It responds to the findings of WHO’s 2025 Health and Climate Change Global Survey, which showed that knowledge of what works is available but implementation and financing continue to lag. After COP31, the resources will be maintained through the Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH).
“Health is the strongest argument for climate action,” said Diarmid Campbell Lendrum, head of the Climate Change, Energy and Air Quality Unit at WHO headquarters. He said COP31 was an opportunity to back the momentum “with the finance and the political will to deliver.” WHO will host more than 60 events at the COP31 Health Pavilion and support activities on all 12 thematic days, including ATACH Day on 10 November.
WHO warned that about 3.5 billion people live in contexts highly vulnerable to climate change, while more than 90 percent of deaths from climate-related disasters over the past two decades occurred in developing countries. Air pollution, including from burning fossil fuels, kills around 7 million people globally. Small island developing states, water-scarce, conflict-affected, coastal and agricultural communities are hit hardest, as are pregnant and lactating women, newborns, children, older people, Indigenous Peoples and outdoor workers.
On 4 November, WHO published an analysis showing that six priority climate-health actions could save 1.6 million lives a year and return US$24 for every dollar invested. The agency urged that health be made an explicit eligibility area in climate finance and that finance, health, environment and energy ministries budget for climate impacts on health systems. At COP31, it will also preview a forthcoming report on the health effects of black carbon, a potent short-lived climate pollutant. WHO said success in Antalya would be measured by whether commitments made since Glasgow and in Belém, including the Belém Health Action Plan adopted at COP30, are implemented, renewed and reported. (**)
