Climate change, air quality and its impact on public health

The 2024 International Conference of the Integrated Research Programme on Disaster Risk (IRDR) was held in Beijing on October 22-23, 2024. The theme of this conference is “Science Empowering an Inclusive, Safe and Sustainable World: Actions of the IRDR Global Community”. The IRDR2024 Conference has received strong support from the International Council for Science (ISC), the United Nations Programme for Disaster Reduction (UNDRR), and the China Association for Science and Technology. It is specifically organized by the IRDR International Project Office, the Institute of Air and Space Information Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the New Technology Center of the China Association for Science and Technology, and the Cluster of Headquarters of International science and Technology organizations.

 

The IRDR International Center of Excellence (FDU-IRDR-ICoE) of Fudan University and the IRDR International Center of Excellence (CUHK-IRDR-ICoE) of The Chinese University of Hong Kong jointly initiated and held the special session “Climate Change, Air Quality and Its Impact on Public Health” of the IRDR 2024 International Conference. Representatives from multiple international organizations and international experts in relevant fields gathered together to discuss the coordinated response to climate change, air quality and health risks, and to promote climate change governance and actions centered on health.

 

Ryoma Kayano, a technical officer from the Centre for Health Development of the World Health Organization, Wang Qian, a project management officer from the United Nations Environment Programme China Office, and Josephine KW Ngaira, a member of the IRDR Scientific Committee, delivered opening remarks, praising the timeliness and significance of the holding of this meeting. It emphasized the urgency of protecting people from the impact of climate change and air quality issues, and expected that through this conference, the understanding and recognition of the interconnected scientific issues of climate-environment-health risks would be deepened, the exchange and sharing of experiences among regions of the world would be promoted, and implementable scientific action plans would be formed and advanced, making important contributions to global climate governance.

 

The reporting session was presided over by Professor Josephine Ngaira. Professor Tang Xu, the executive director of the IRDR International Center of Excellence of Fudan University, elaborated in detail on the background of the initiation, implementation framework, project goals and action plans of the IRDR Work Stream on “Global Climate Change and Public Health” led and promoted by the IRDR International Center of Excellence of Fudan University. Subsequently, Liu Cong, a young researcher at Fudan University and a member of FDU-IRDR-ICoE; Liu Sida, an assistant professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and a member of CUHK-IRDR-ICoE; Heru Santoso, a senior researcher at the National Innovation Research Agency of Indonesia; Josephine KW, Masin de Murillo University of Technology, Kenya

 

The subsequent roundtable discussion session was co-chaired by Professor Tang Xu and Professor Chen Yingning. Zhu Tong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, chairperson of the WMO/GAW/ARCH Working Group of the World Meteorological Organization, and a professor at Peking University; Heru Santoso, a senior researcher at the National Innovation Research Agency (BRIN) of Indonesia; Wang Qian, a project management officer at the China Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Josephine Ngaira, a member of the IRDR Scientific Committee, Qiu Lili, the founder of Beijing Pinglan Public Welfare Foundation, Liu Sida, the project director of the Shared Foundation, etc., respectively started from their respective fields and made wonderful speeches on the theme of responding to the health risks of climate change and air pollution.

 

The meeting issued an action initiative for jointly addressing the health risks of climate change. Six specific actions have been proposed, including jointly participating in the formulation and implementation of the IRDR Global Climate Change and Health Workflow Strategic Framework Plan, the Comprehensive Action Plan for Urban Climate resilience Building, the IRDR Global Partnership Action Network on Climate Change and Health, the Global Action Network on Climate Change and Humanitarian Relief, the International Summer School on Climate Change and Its Risks, and the multi-party dialogue and consultation mechanism on climate governance The initiative calls on governments of all countries, international organizations, civil society, the private sector and communities to join hands and take bold and urgent actions to reduce the impact of climate change on public health.