WOMEN NETWORKS CALL
HEALTH & CLIMATE CHANGE STAKEHOLDERS TO ACT

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+44%: Increase in climate change-related natural disasters over the past decade*.
$ 2-4 billion estimated direct damage costs to health per year by 2030 due to climate change**.
Every 2nd person will live in dengue infested areas by 2085***

These figures radically change our vision of the future as they result in increased health risks and growing inequalities in access to health around the planet. Although public health is a crucial concern for mankind, global health risks of climate change have not yet awaken people’s consciousness. The UN Climate Change Conference COP21 brings us the opportunity to raise health-climate issues and trigger necessary pro-active measures.

Women are particularly at stake, because they are more often vulnerable to poverty and also more receptive to the need for sustainable development.

Therefore 3 networks, Femmes & Développement Durable (Women and sustainable development), SupplémentdElles and Femmes, Débat & Société (Women, Debate and Society) have joined to call for fast and effective action. Their aim is to provide a common framework for international women networks and gather support from public governments and all Health/Climate change stakeholders. We promote actions focused on effective climate change solutions, primarily aiming to:

  • Adapt the capacity of health care systems to cope with the effects of climate change
  • Adapt land policies to mitigate climate change.

Some solutions already exist. Their implementation requires :

  • Strong and decisive support from leaders among government bodies, private sector, scientific circles and associations in all countries ;
  • Campaigns to raise awareness among populations ;
  • Campaigns to promote solutions, aggregate them, share and facilitate consistent actions ;
  • Investments to implement these solutions.

Women networks are gathering to address the urgency of Climate change. They pledge to call leaders for action and contribute to promote the diverse array of solutions by facilitating choices and action..

JOIN US BY SIGNING THIS CALL !

An initiative by :

Femmes, Débat& Société
Femmes & Développement Durable
SupplémentdElles

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Sources:
*CRED (2015) Report on Human cost of Natural Disasters. A global perspective. Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters
** OMS (août 2014)
***N. Evelyn, A. Murray, M. B. Quam A. Wilder-Smith. Epidemiology of dengue: past, present and future prospects, Clin Epidemiol. 2013; 5: 299–309.