“It’s not surprising that the Commission is calling for more urgency,” says WHO/Europe’s Special Representative for Climate and Health, Robb Butler, following the launch of a call to action by the independent Pan-European Commission on Climate and Health, in Geneva on 17 May.
Among the recommendations of the Commission that have attracted the most attention, is its call for WHO to declare climate change a public health emergency of international concern. This would unlock emergency coordination mechanisms, trigger binding obligations on WHO Member States, and for the first time, elevate climate change to the same legal and operational footing as major infectious disease outbreaks – compelling coordinated action under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR).
“The IHR itself, was devised to slow or mitigate the impact of a potentially catastrophic event. And here we have a catastrophic event. It’s just not epidemic and it’s not time-bound, so it doesn’t fit into the IHR architecture,” says Butler.
He goes on to say that the Commission is fully aware that climate change doesn’t fit the template, and that the call to action is therefore intended to draw attention to the IHR framework itself and how it has allowed the global community to treat climate change as a chronic background condition rather than a constantly growing threat to health security. “They’re looking for an alarm bell to press,” Butler explains.
“What the Commission, I feel, are raising and asking from WHO, is if that architecture and infrastructure – if that mechanism is not sufficient to raise the alarm on climate change, for us to take urgent action, what is?” Butler asks.