The world now has a global climate treaty that will become a public health treaty as countries take action. As stated in the Paris Agreement, “the right to health”, will be central to the actions taken. The agreement calls on countries to develop adaptation plans that will protect human health from the impacts of climate change, such as, heat waves, floods and droughts, and the ongoing degradation of water and food security. Through monitoring and revision of national commitments every five years, the world will begin to see improvements not only in the environment, but also in health, including reductions in the annual toll of more than seven million deaths worldwide attributable to air pollution every year.
At COP22, the public health community will showcase technical information, initiatives, lessons learned and political commitments on health, environment and climate change at key events.
COP22 will be held from 7 to 18 November 2016 in Marrakech, Morocco.
