A new report from the Yale School of Public Health, the Resilient Cities Network, and The Rockefeller Foundation reveals a troubling truth: most of the world’s cities are woefully unprepared for the impact of climate change. With over half the global population living in urban areas, and that number expected to reach 70% by 2050, this is a crisis that demands immediate action. The report finds that less than half of the cities surveyed have a climate resilience plan, and even fewer have plans that address the critical issue of climate-related health threats. It’s time for city leaders to prioritize the health and well-being of their citizens in the face of a rapidly changing climate.
The Alarming Reality
The report states cities worldwide are in a triple threat climate challenge. Many urban centres are otherwise particularly at risk, with large populations, limited green spaces and ageing infrastructure which can only make them even more vulnerable to the impacts of a warming planet.
Dengue fever outbreaks in cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Ho Chi Minh City, increased threat of catastrophic coastal flooding in cities such as Miami and Dubai — the risks to public health are growing sharply. The stakes of inaction are high, too: with the survival gains from averting just one heat wave alone in Dhaka, Bangladesh estimated to yield a return of $1-7 per saved life among socially marginal and economically disadvantaged populations.
Making Health and Equity the Top Priorities
Released during today’s C40 Summit in Johannesburg, the report highlights that the most urgent response to fast-growing risk to lives and economies from climate change lies on a health-centred path to urban climate resilience. Lead author of the report, Jeannette Ickovics, a professor at Yale School of Public Health said: “We urge the global community to include health in city level climate agendas by elevating and scaling up evidence-based solutions and deploying novel financial mechanisms that facilitate rapid disbursement to cities for resilient infrastructure.
That involves not just the physical infrastructure challenges but also the social determinants of health that result in some communities being more susceptible to the health impacts of climate change. The document underscores a role for cross-sectoral collaboration, ranging from public health to city planning to safeguard the most vulnerable.
A Call for Action from City to Mayor
The report offers leaders in cities across the country a guidebook —with 10 clear recommendations—on how to make their communities stronger and prepared for climate change. Work such as the early warning systems, green infrastructure investment and cross-sector partnerships needed to tackle climate, health and equity co-benefit challenges are all meant to establish a groundwork on preventing these connected emergencies.
Working with the Resilient Cities Network and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, The Rockefeller Foundation will use its convening power to invest over $1 million supporting implementation of these recommendations in cities. Although this is a positive accomplishment, much more needs to be achieved to safeguard the health and welfare of urbanites across our planet.
” We need the evidence that we have to come together around a vision of urban resilience — use our collective intellect and power to create a healthier, more equitable and sustainable urban environment for everyone,” Ickovics said.
