I like to plan and seek predictability, that's me. This past week has been extraordinarily busy, with planning a move, writing reports and keeping up with the news for the PHW. My move, though, has been in the works for a while and not much has come as a surprise, just following a good plan with lots of work, together with others. How different from the millions who’ve fled and are still fleeing from their homes in Ukraine (and Russia too) and many other places in the world. They've been forced from their comfort and predictability due to conflict, environmental emergencies and disasters. They haven’t, though, had the luxury of planning their move, doing it according to plan. Those fleeing the Russian war, other conflict and environmental disaster have generally had to quickly leave, gather what they can of their belongings and take off into an unknown future, often full of peril, so unlike my move.
What will happen as this experience of dislocation keeps getting bigger and bigger, involving more millions of brothers and sisters from more areas of the world. I read the other day that ‘humans seek the known and predictability.’ But, there’s so much unknown and unpredictability when fleeing for your life. My heart goes out to them all. How unjust and unfair life is when this happens. None of those fleeing deserve this fate, they have done nothing to be dished it. They, generally, aren’t the ones starting hostilities, polluting the environment, releasing horrendous quantities of greenhouse gases, nor are they the ones making the tools of murder and doom.
When we learn about the world, the good and the bad, and put two and two together from what we see and learn from trusted others, we gain not only a greater understanding of who we are, what we stand for, but also gain insight on how to stop the destruction, work for peace and give greater respect to all those displaced.
In today’s Planetary Health Weekly (#19 of 2022) we travel around the world seeing the effects of our actions and learn from those taking it seriously and doing something about it, those of good will who act. I know I still have lots to do. Read today for:
CLIMATE CRISIS UPDATES:
Planting trees “doesn’t make any sense” in the fight against climate change due to permanence concerns,
Green hydrogen – climate hope or hype?
A first for Canada: new type of nuclear plant opening by 2028,
Carbon pricing too hard on Indigenous groups, small biz, too weak on industry: audit,
Global warming causing early plant blooms – UK scientists warn,
India and Pakistan heatwave is ‘testing the limits of human survivability,’
Extreme heat in India and Pakistan shows urgent need for climate action,
Thousands refuse to evacuate largest U.S. wildfire in New Mexico, German overshoot day: ‘we cannot continue like this,’
CORONAVIRUS UPDATES:
ACT-Accelerator calls for fair share-based financing of US$23B to end pandemic as global emergency in 2022,
Analysis of firearm violence during the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.S.,
World’s weekly Covid-19 deaths drop 10% to lowest level since pandemic began,
WHO: Covid continues to decline except in Americas and Africa,
Africa CDC urges Covid-19 vaccine buyers to order from South Africa’s Aspen,
Long Covid: free online breathing course by opera singers can improve long-term symptoms,
Sweden’s Covid death rate among lowest in Europe, despite avoiding strict lockdowns, THEN
Milner on Biodiversity – Blog #2 “The Legal Rights of Rivers,”
The Global Report on Food Crises 2022,
How to make Africa’s ‘Great Green Wall’ a success,
Delivering primary care in non-traditional healthcare settings to individuals experiencing homelessness,
Fifty architects and designers you need to know,
Iraq: maternal health services remain insufficient in Mosul (but MSF is there to help),
The (Canadian) Liberal’s plan to fight fire with fire won’t turn down the climate heat,
Colorado River reservoirs are so low – government will delay releases,
Climate change and Indigenous peoples’ health in Canada (a report),
Quote by WHO director general on the new malaria vaccine,
The intersection of health and the climate emergency: an SDG policy dialogue series presented by the Canadian Association for Global Health (CAGH),
ZOLA Electric’s efforts to solve Africa’s energy crisis,
Association of influenza vaccine with cardiovascular risk,
6 of the world’s most intelligent animals,
New Book: "Global Health Watch 6" edited by Chiara Bodini and Ronald Labonté,
Institutions across Canada honour Red Dress Day with art installations, and lastly
ENDSHOTS from one of Toronto Spring Jewels, High Park.
I hope you’ll keep reading.
Best, david
David Zakus, Editor and Publisher
Cherry Blossoms, High Park, Toronto, Ontario, May 8, 2022 - May this sign of Earth's Spring Renewal foster hope for Ukraine and the Climate Crisis
Afforestation is an unreliable way of permanently sequestering atmospheric carbon, according to several key figures interviewed by Dezeen as part of our carbon revolution series. While trees capture huge amounts of carbon, they need to remain growing for a long time to be effective carbon stores, experts say. In addition, the timber they produce needs to be put to long-term use to prevent the carbon it contains from quickly going back into the atmosphere when it rots or is burned.
"Planting trees is probably the most difficult potential method from a measurement and verification perspective," said Paul Gambill, CEO of carbon marketplace Nori in an interview with Dezeen. "You plant the forest but you don't start seeing carbon retention and sequestration happening for at least 10 years after they're planted, so there's a long lag time in doing that," explained Gambill, whose company allows people who capture atmospheric carbon to sell it to people who want to offset their emissions. "And then you have to maintain that forest and make sure it isn't burned or cut down."Forests need to have a permanence of 100 years to be effective carbon stores", he said. Read more at Dezeen
Green hydrogen produces zero emissions and many believe it holds the key to limiting global warming. So is it the big hope for the future or a multi-billion euro mistake?
In March 2022 the energy ministers from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and New Brunswick announced a joint strategic plan to develop innovative nuclear energy facilities. A small modular reactor (SMR) is planned for construction at the Chalk River Laboratories site in Ontario by 2028, which will be a first-of-its-kind in Canada. New Brunswick could see its first SMR in 2030 and Saskatchewn intends to construct their own by the mid 2030s.
Canada's environment commissioner says the country's carbon pricing system is disproportionately hard on Indigenous communities and small businesses and not hard enough on the biggest emitters.
Jerry DeMarco just issued five audit reports on carbon pricing, transitioning workers away from fossil fuel industries, hydrogen energy, climate-related infrastructure policies and the government's efforts to cut its own emissions.
Herbs are among the plants quickly adapting to warmer temperatures by releasing flowers a month earlier. However, early blooms in late winter can leave plants vulnerable to frost damage and disrupt animal feeding cycles.
Temperatures in parts of India and Pakistan have reached record levels, putting the lives of millions at risk as the effects of the climate crisis are felt across the subcontinent.
The average maximum temperature for northwest and central India in April was the highest since records began 122 years ago, reaching 35.9 and 37.8 degrees Celsius (96.62 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit) respectively, according to the Indian Meteorological Department.
Thousands of people told to flee the largest wildfire burning in the United States have chosen to stay and defend generational homes in the mountains of northern New Mexico, even as some run out of food and water, officials said.
Globally, nationally and locally, the pandemic continues in many to most countries, but with cases and especially deaths declining. But it remains far from being over. Please remember that the virus is still circulating, that it spreads vociferously and to take care. Vaccination, by all credible accounts, remains the best way to be safe from serious consequences, including long Covid; ensure to get all the shots you can.
Over the last week there continued to be about 4 million new cases (though testing is sorely insufficient and this is a huge underestimation) and ~13,000 deaths (down again about 20%), and about 66 million people received a Covid-19 vaccine (down a further ~20%).
And the USA just passed 1 million deaths. As President Biden put it, there are a million persons missing from the dinner table just from this one new disease. What a colossal tragedy.
The ACT-Accelerator is calling for the support of higher income countries, at a time when vast global disparities in access to COVID-19 tools persist. Over 4.7 billion COVID-19 tests have been administered globally since the beginning of the pandemic. However, only about 22 million tests have been administered in low-income countries, comprising only 0.4% of the global total. Only 10% of people in low-income countries have received at least one vaccine dose. This massive inequity not only costs lives, it also hurts economies and risks the emergence of new, more dangerous variants that could rob current tools of their effectiveness and set even highly-vaccinated populations back many months. Read more at Unicef
The Magpie River in northern Quebec has been granted full legal rights of a person. You might think this was an amusing peculiarity in a remote corner of the vast Canadian north, having little relevance to the rest of the world. I suggest you would be wrong. In fact, the Magpie joins the Klamath in northern California/Washington State, USA and the Whanganui in North Island, New Zealand as well as Los Cedros Biological Reserve in Ecuador, all of which have been granted similar legal rights in recent times. The decision by the Innu Council of Ekuantshit, the local indigenous people of the Magpie Valley ensures that the river has a right to flow freely, to be free of pollution and thus maintain its natural biodiversity. It can now sue anyone or any entity that infringes these rights. In the modern world rights like this, self-evident to most Indigenous peoples, have to be written down and agreed by local administrations.
For the last two or three hundred years Indigenous people, traditional keepers of the natural heritage, have been ignored and shut out of decision-making while their lands, forests and waters were exploited by outsiders. It is to prevent this damage that the Indigenous inhabitants of the Magpie River basin have taken this step; at the very least their views will have to be heard. As a potential protection against some of the worst excesses of environmental damage by corporate interests or other government agencies, it is most promising, offering a more considered approach to biodiversity conservation and indeed the health of the planet.
All over the world rivers have suffered from the excesses of modern development, their waters polluted, extracted, dammed and misused for several centuries. The granting of legal status may contribute to restoring some balance by offering more substantial opposition to some of the most damaging activities. Hydro-power schemes have restricted the flow of thousands of rivers and there are plans for thousands more. These projects rarely take into account the collateral damage to local people and their livelihoods as fish populations inevitably suffer with migration prevented and river conditions changed, and from the likely flooding scenarios. Salmon especially have been badly affected by dams in the Klamath basin; being a keystone species this has meant that the whole river ecosystem was affected. Impetus for the Klamath river declaration was the restoration of the native salmon and trout populations, in particular their unhindered migration to spawning grounds.
Could a river’s right to flow have an influence in other parts of the world where hundreds of new hydro-power schemes are planned? Certainly, local communities need every help they can get when resisting grandiose political projects with powerful commercial backing. Water extraction for irrigation schemes too could be tempered by the right to flow; in dry areas some counterbalance to overuse of water by agricultural interests could result. The right to be free of pollution would have obvious benefits in much of the world. In both Britain and the USA recent reports show that virtually every river basin is significantly polluted, with freshwater fish among the most threatened groups of animals.
Whether this approach will work under different legal frameworks is uncertain, but as details of the global biodiversity crisis become better known it is clear that something has to change. Rivers especially are under threat. The weak ‘environmental impact’ approach of many governments has been shown not to work – perhaps the influence of local communities can have more success in counteracting what are essentially commercial pressures. Read more at PHW Blogs
The 2022 Global Report on Food Crises — released May 4, 2022 — paints a grim picture of deteriorating food crises that are expected to be compounded by the war against Ukraine.
According to the report, which was compiled by the Global Network Against Food Crises — an international alliance which includes the EU, FAO and WFP — levels of hunger surpassed all previous records in 2021, with close to 193 million people acutely food insecure and in need of urgent assistance across 53 countries and territories. This represents an increase of nearly 40 million people compared to 2020.
In addition, over half a million people — four times more than in 2020 — were facing what’s classified as IPC Phase 5/Catastrophe, or to put it more bluntly, starvation and death, across Ethiopia, South Sudan, southern Madagascar and Yemen.
And it’s not going to get better anytime soon. The report found that the outlook for global acute food insecurity is expected to deteriorate further due to the war in Ukraine and its repercussions on global food, energy and fertilizer prices and supplies. Though the effects of the conflict have not yet been factored into the country projections included in the report, as many as 181 million people are already forecast to be in crisis or worse in 41 out of the 53 countries and territories surveyed.
“What we are seeing is a perfect storm around the world,” David Beasley, WFP’s executive director, says. “If we don't get ahead of this thing, we will have not just famine in multiple countries around the world … but you will have destabilization of some nations and you will have mass migration by necessity — and no one wants that.” Read more at Food Fight Crises
It’s now 15 years since the African Union gave its blessing to Africa’s Great Green Wall, one of the world’s most ambitious ecological-restoration schemes. The project is intended to combat desertification across the width of Africa, and spans some 8,000 kilometres, from Senegal to Djibouti. Its ambition is staggering: it aims to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land by 2030, capturing 250 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and creating 10 million jobs in the process. But it continues to struggle.
An assessment two years ago by independent experts commissioned by the United Nations stated that somewhere between 4% and 20% of the restoration target had been achieved (go.nature.com/39zqgkr). That figure has not changed, according to the latest edition of Global Land Outlook (go.nature.com/3kdjtw5) from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), out last week. Equally concerning is the fact that funding for the project continues to lag. Africa’s governments and international donors need to find around US$30 billion to reach the 100-million-hectare target. So far, $19 billion has been raised.
The pandemic — and now a cost-of-living crisis — has placed demands on all governments, and that means countries might be expected to reduce their green-wall commitments. But the project continues to be weighed down by other difficulties, including the complex system through which it is funded and governed, as well as how its success is measured. These problems can and must be fixed, otherwise it will struggle to achieve its goals. Read more at Nature
People experiencing homelessness (PEH) face multiple barriers to accessing primary care, over and above the pervasive problems of stigma and exclusion. This rapid review describes approaches to provide PEH with primary care services outside the mainstream health system, highlighting key features of promising and emerging initiatives from several countries. Read more at NAO Health Observatory
To celebrate Earth Day we've compiled a list of 50 people who are pushing the boundaries of sustainable architecture and design.
Architects and designers have a key role to play in reducing carbon emissions, pollution and waste while protecting biodiversity.
Here are 50 individuals and studios who are doing pioneering work, ranging from architects exploring timber construction to designers thinking radically about circularity and scientists developing new low-carbon materials. Read more at Dezeen
Mariam, 20 years old, lives in Mosul and came to MSF’s Al Amal maternity to attend an antenatal care consultation. Credit: Elisa Fourt/MSF
In June 2014, Mosul fell under the control of the Islamic State group. In October 2016, a military offensive led by an alliance of the Iraqi security forces and an international coalition was launched to retake the city. The battle of Mosul stretched over 250 days and was described as one of the deadliest urban combats since World War II. In July 2017, Mosul was officially declared retaken by Iraqi authorities. But five years later, many medical facilities damaged in the fighting have yet to be fully renovated and made fit for use and there are still shortages of medical supplies. As a result, thousands of families in and around Mosul still struggle to access quality affordable healthcare. Among the most vulnerable are pregnant women and their babies. Read more at Doctors Without Borders
If the federal Liberal government was a firefighter, its fire hose would be filled with gasoline instead of water.
Prime Minister Trudeau has been promising a Just Transition Act for three years, but instead he keeps delivering fossil fuel subsidies and pipelines.
In the wake of the latest “sobering” report from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), the government could have finally kickstarted the just transition legislation process in last week’s federal budget. Instead, it approved Bay du Nord, yet another climate-killing fossil fuel project.
We’ve seen this pattern before. The day after Parliament declared a climate emergency in 2019, Trudeau bought a pipeline. This government is incredibly skilled at accurately acknowledging the problem, showing up to address it, and then doing the opposite of what it says and what is needed.
So what is to be done with a government that acknowledges the science and scale of the crisis and then keeps throwing fuel on the fire anyway?
There are three key recent developments that inform the way forward for our movement: the recent federal budget, the government’s new Emissions Reduction Plan, and the Liberal-NDP agreement. Read more at Counsel of Canadians
With long-term severe drought continuing to take a toll on the Colorado River, the federal government announced that it will retain some water in one of the river’s major reservoirs, describing it as an extraordinary action to temporarily stave off increased uncertainty in water and electricity supplies in the West.
The decision to keep more water in Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border, rather than releasing it downstream to the other major reservoir, Lake Mead near Las Vegas, comes as both are at record-low levels after 20 years of drought made worse by climate change. Powell, behind Glen Canyon Dam, currently holds less than one-fourth of the amount it held when it filled after the dam was built in the 1960s.
“We have never taken this step before in the Colorado River basin,” said Tanya Trujillo, an Interior Department assistant secretary. “But the conditions we see today, and the potential risks we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt action.” Read more at New York Times
James "Jimmy" Haniliak was born in an igloo near Bathurst Inlet and works as a guide based in Cambridge Bay. Nunavut. Near Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Credit: Neil Ever Osborne
For the first time, an Indigenous-focused chapter has been included in Canada’s national climate change and health assessment. Health of Canadians in a Changing Climate: Advancing our Knowledge for Action, released earlier this year, describes the effects of global climate change on First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities and the strategies in place to manage these effects.
The report chapter Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples’ Health in Canada predicts that Indigenous peoples will experience climate change in ways most Canadians won’t. In the North, where warming is three times the global average, severe disruptions are anticipated. A disproportionate burden of climate change will likely fall upon Indigenous peoples, whose reliance on seasonal roads and country foods contrasts mainstream Canadian life. Read more at The Weather Network
Quote Of The Week:
Credit: Getty Images
“As a malaria researcher in my early career, I dreamed of the day we would have an effective vaccine against this devastating disease,”said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
“This vaccine is not just a scientific breakthrough, it’s life-changing for families across Africa. It demonstrates the power of science and innovation for health. Even so, there is an urgent need to develop more and better tools to save lives and drive progress towards a malaria-free world.”
International Health Trends and Perspectives (a new journal based at Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly RyersonU, Toronto) is dedicating a special issue to the topic of Planetary Health to highlight research and theoretical contributions of scientists and scholars globally. It is inviting manuscripts that are solutions and equity-focused. See the call for papers and details here: https://bit.ly/3tDixHT
November, 2022: Canadian Conference on Global Health Join us in November 2022 in Toronto for the 28th Canadian Conference on Global Health (CCGH). This year's hybrid event will explore the theme of: "Inclusive Global Health in Uncertain Times: Research and Practice". Stay tuned for more information.
FYI#1 SPOTLIGHT ON MEDIA
The Intersection Of Health And The Climate Emergency: An SDG Policy Dialogue Series Presented By The Canadian Association For Global Health (CAGH)
Credit: Video
Insights shared by esteemed experts during the CAGH SDG Policy Dialogues on the Intersection of Climate Change and Health have been developed into a short video to provide a glimpse into the rich conversations and a clear call to action. Watch the full Dialogues for a more in-depth exploration of the relationship between climate change and mental health as well as how to address the health implications of climate change through policy.
Credit: Bill Lenihan, CEO of ZOLA Electric, speaks on the company's efforts to solve Africa’s energy crisis
In September 2021, ZOLA Electric announced a $90 million funding round. The company, which is backed by Tesla, has been on a mission to provide affordable energy solutions across emerging markets since 2011. Currently, the company operates across ten countries including Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana, Rwanda, etc. We spoke to Bill Lenihan, the Chief Executive Officer, to learn what’s next following the capital raise. Bill had previously worked with Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse. Read more at Africa Business Insider
Association Of Influenza Vaccination With Cardiovascular Risk - A Meta-analysis
Credit: BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS
Viral respiratory infections, including those due to the influenza virus, increase the risk for pneumonia and systemic illness that can precipitate fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events. Underlying cardiovascular disease is also a risk factor for influenza infection, downstream cardiopulmonary complications, and mortality from respiratory infections. In a prior systematic review and meta-analysis, we found that influenza vaccination was associated with a lower risk of fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events within a year. A larger risk reduction was seen in patients with recent acute coronary syndrome (ACS). In this study, we assessed whether new randomized trial data of influenza vaccination from the Influenza Vaccination After Myocardial Infarction (IAMI) trial5 was consistent with the findings of our prior meta-analysis and provided further refinement of the cardiovascular risk reduction associated with influenza vaccination.
Humans may be considered the most intelligent animals on Earth, but other species are not far behind. Scientists measure animal intelligence by looking at an animal’s self-awareness, self-control, and memory, all of which influence how well a creature processes information and solves problems. Judging an animal’s smarts is still a gray area, however. It’s pretty difficult to get a large number of wild animals together for a controlled behavioral experiment, and sometimes the tests scientists devise to judge a species’ intelligence don’t jive with the way animals perceive things. But the species included here have consistently impressed us with their smarts.
"GLOBAL HEALTH WATCH 6" edited by Chiara Bodini and Ron Labonté
Credit: Book Cover
Global Health Watch 6 (GHW6) is the latest edition of People’s Health Movement’s flagship publication, released every 3 years in collaboration with like-minded organizations and the voluntary effort of over 100 contributors from all over the world. Written in the shadow of a global pandemic (the book’s subtitle), it describes how and why the pandemic deepened inequities in health and access to healthcare. But it also looks beyond the pandemic to what is needed to create a fairer, healthier and environmentally sustainable future.
The book begins with a short synopsis of the state of the world’s political and economic health and its pre-pandemic crises of inequalities, climate, and migration. We assess the state of post-pandemic ‘recovery’ plans before describing the kind of ‘postgrowth’ or ‘degrowth’ economy needed to safeguard planetary health. Pandemic-related gendered health inequalities are given close attention with a focus on South Asia, across a spectrum of gender identities beyond cisgender women to include trans, intersex, and non-binary persons.
Institutions Across Canada Honour Red Dress Day With Art Installations, Reflection
Post secondary institutions across Canada spent time on May 5th to honour missing and murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people and stand in solidarity with survivors. At Brock University, students were encouraged to participate in a Red Dress Day Walk, while Niagara College hung red dresses in trees on their Welland and Niagara-on-the-Lake campuses. Queen’s University installed 18 red dresses on campus light poles on May 5th to mark the beginning of The National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Gender Diverse People. The Alberta University of the Arts encouraged students to become involved by hanging a red dress in their yard, wearing red, or attending a vigil to honour those who are gone. Langara College installed red dresses to raise awareness of each stolen sister, while Royal Roads University hung red dresses in the trees along University Drive and encouraged community members to read and reflect on the 231 Calls for Justice.
Publisher and Editor: Dr. David Zakus Production: Julia Chalmers and Aisha Saleem Social Media: Mahdia Abidi, Shalini Kainth and Ishneer Mankoo Website, Index and Advisory: Eunice Anteh, Gaël Chetaille, Evans Oppong, Jonathan Zakus, Dr. Aimée-Angélique Bouka & Elisabeth Huang Blogs: Dr. Stephen Bezruchka, Aisha Saleem and Dr. Jay Kravitz