Topic:
Country: Brazil
Delegate Name: Eve Orban
Climate change is a global emergency with a myriad of negative impacts. One such impact is its effects on health. There are many effects that climate change has on health. Climate change increases the frequency of extreme weather events like heat waves and floods, increasing the risks of death, non-communicable disease, spread of infections, and health emergencies. The World Health Organization estimates that 2 billion people lack safe drinking water and 600 million suffer from food-borne disease annually– climate change, by making food resources more scarce and lower quality, will increase these numbers. Warmer climates increase the reproduction, resilience, and distribution of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria, for which cases are supposed to rise from 25 million in 2020 to 50 million in 2080. Human respiratory and cardiovascular systems are being put at risk due to an increase of outdoor air pollutants, ground-level ozone, and particulate matter because of rapidly changing weather patterns. Climate change’s effect on health must be addressed.
Brazil is home to the majority of the Amazon Rainforest, which represents 40% of the world’s remaining rainforests. The Amazon plays a vital role in regulating climate change, as it is one of the world’s largest carbon sinks, absorbing around one-fourth of the CO2 from the Earth’s atmosphere. The rainforest is being threatened, however, by massive deforestation and climate change. For this reason, Brazil is determined to stop climate change. Brazil has adopted the Paris Agreement, which is a legally binding treaty with the goal of climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. Through Brazil’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Brazil is committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 37% below 2005 levels by 2025 and restoring 12 million hectares of forests by 2030. Brazil’s Low Carbon Emission Agricultural program seeks to restore 15 million hectares of degraded pasturelands and enhance integrated cropland-livestock-forestry systems by 2030. Brazil has one of the largest and most successful biofuel production programs. In terms of health in particular, Brazil has developed an Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response system in order to improve its early warning and response systems for climate-related health risks. The nation is currently developing a national strategy for climate change mitigation that considers health issues.
The Federative Republic of Brazil urges other nations to treat the issue of climate change, in particular its health effects, with the utmost importance. Countries can cooperate with the UNFCCC and support treaties like the Paris Agreement in order to reach less emissions globally. Nations should focus their efforts on the research and development of new technologies and renewable energy in order to combat the crisis of climate change. It will take the cooperation of every individual country in order to reduce the effects of climate change on human health. As a nation, Brazil encourages wealthy nations to give funds to help solve the global crisis of climate change and the creation of global partnerships in order to save natural resources like the Amazon Rainforest.
