Climate change poses serious challenges for humans around the world. Global warming is perceived as one of the biggest global health risks of the twentieth century, which has a range of effects on human health. Global warming has an impact on vector-borne disease, water-related disease, heat- and cold-related deaths, allergies, air pollution, mental and urban health, malnutrition. The projected increases in more extreme weather, such as more frequent and more intense heatwaves, flooding, droughts, wildfires, and storms due to climate change, also have wide-ranging direct and indirect effects on health.

Although the effect of climate change will be experienced worldwide, its impact will not be evenly distributed among populations. In low-income countries, climate change is believed to further exacerbate existing vulnerability to disease and food security risks, as their populations are, for instance, more reliant on agriculture, more vulnerable to droughts and have a lower adaptive capacity. As climate change can be seen as an amplifier of existing and emerging health risks, it might increase health inequalities and is likely to widen the health gap between rich and poor.

Our Speakers

Pim Martens holds the chair ‘Sustainable Development’ at Maastricht University and is a professor extraordinary at Stellenbosch University. He is the (founding) Director of the Maastricht University Graduate School of Sustainability Science (MUST),  and has been Director of the International Centre for Integrated assessment and Sustainable development (ICIS) from 2004-2013.

Vlatka Matkovic is a Senior Health and Energy Officer at Health and Environmental Alliance (HEAL). She leads the work on the implementation of health and environment rules for coal plants in the EU and in the Balkans. She coordinates the Unmask My City campaign in Balkans and working to raise awareness about health impacts of air pollution from different energy sources. Vlatka is particularly interested in building health allies and engaging medical professionals in a wider health, climate, and energy debate.

Moderator

Christine Neuhold is a full Professor of EU Democratic Governance. She is Director of the Research Programme of Politics and Culture at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University (UM) and Director of Maastricht University Campus Brussels.