Health impacts of climate change

To further develop the meeting themes, the Academy formed a Climate Change and Health Steering Committee, which has conducted a series of sector discussions to uncover what is holding-up action on the health impacts of climate change, how we can start addressing the key health issues caused by climate change, and what can be learned from Indigenous knowledge while ensuring that First Nations voices are amplified.

We convened broad expertise via a series of roundtables and interviews in five areas:

• • The Australian bushfires and the impact on health
  • Delivering fully sustainable healthcare
    Action on climate change and health – identifying key threats and blockages
  • Taking action on the health impacts of climate change – A path forward for Australia
  • Climate change, health, and First Nations knowledge practices.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia is likely to see higher frequency and severity of such extreme weather events over the coming decades. To make sure that Australia is equipped to recover from, and deal with future events, we must understand the health impacts of climate change – our project aims to address this need.