Ahmed Al- Mandhari, the Regional Director of the World Health Organization for the Eastern Mediterranean, revealed to “Sky News Arabia” the organization’s objectives for their participation in the upcoming COP28 conference, to be held in Expo Dubai from November 30 to December 12.
Al- Mandhari stated that COP28 is eagerly awaited for its focus on crucial climate change-related issues, especially after the substantial losses the world has suffered from natural disasters such as floods, storms, and hurricanes this year.
A significant aspect of this year’s summit, as Al- Mandhari highlighted, is the COP28 administration’s decision to devote a full day to addressing climate change and health issues.
This year’s conference is a landmark event in the fight against climate change, following the legally binding global agreement of the Paris Agreement (COP21) in 2015, which aims to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius and further endeavors to restrict temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.
Al- Mandhari outlined WHO’s aspirations for COP28, including:
Discussion of the Loss and Damage fund, specifically addressing health losses due to climate changes.
• WHO focuses on humanizing this fund by calculating losses from life loss, injuries, treatment costs, work absence, economic damages due to the destruction or disruption of healthcare facilities, and indirect health damages like food scarcity and pollution of drinking water and air.
• Concerns about new global pandemics potentially caused or exacerbated by climate change. Climate models indicate increased flood risks, more intense heatwaves, aggravated water scarcity and droughts, and rising sea levels in coastal cities, all posing potential disasters for human health and the environment.
• The hope that the summit will be successful and that health will be established as a permanent item on the agenda in the coming years.
This year, the conference aims to achieve tangible achievement and move with a distinguished conference from being a platform for dialogue and negotiation, to taking actual measures to bring about change for all parties.
This will lead to the UAE creating a broad scope to enhance the participation of various sectors of society in supporting climate action; including contributing to achieving Progress is tangible and effective.
