Climate justice at COP30: how should older people be included?
Presenter:
Prakash Tyagi; Jolene Skordis; Alison Marshall, Age International, United Kingdom
Abstract
The changing climate is affecting older people globally. In the lead up to COP30 in November, join us to discuss how climate decision-makers can make age-inclusive decisions. Our key points will build on information provided by the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change .
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Wherever we live, are all experiencing climate change and the news is full of floods, droughts, wildfires, hurricanes and heatwaves. Two of the biggest changes affecting our world are climate change and population ageing. Taken together they pose a significant challenge, and governments and decision-makers at all levels need to pay more attention to the way they interact and amplify risks.
We will ask what climate change means for older people today and in the future? How the worst effects be mitigated, and how communities adapt before it is too late? How we ensure older people’s experience is heard and valued in decision-making? And looking ahead to November’s global climate conference, we will highlight how decision-makers can make age-inclusive decisions.
Climate change disproportionately impacts older populations due to their increased vulnerability to extreme weather, such as floods, droughts or heatwaves, and related health issues. They often have chronic diseases, making them susceptible to health problems and infectious diseases. Climate change also increases poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition, and mental health challenges. Relocation due to climate change leads to loss of homes, livelihoods, and support systems, further impacting older people’s well-being.
COP30 will have a focus on ‘climate justice’ which covers inclusive social policies. We need to highlight how climate mitigation must protect older populations from the worst impacts, as well as emphasising age-inclusive building of community-level disaster preparedness and climate resilience. Similarly calls to strengthen social support systems and increase public health interventions also need to be rooted in age-friendly policies.
Panellists will share examples of action to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change on older people. We will explore learnings from different regions of the world, and different levels of action from community and city, to state and national level. We will look at the role older people can play in sharing knowledge, building resilience and ensuring decisions are based on a whole life-course perspective. Participants will be invited to contribute their experience, and we will end by agreeing key points which feed into position points for colleagues engaging in COP30.
We suggest panellists from different regions who can share what they are doing to reduce the impact of climate change on older people at different levels, alongside advocates who are trying to ensure decision-making includes older people.
Bio(s):
Dr. Prakash Tyagi is Executive Director of GRAVIS and Founder-Director of GRAVIS Hospital. He has studied Medicine and International Public Health. He has been the recipient of a Fulbright-Humphrey Fellowship to study global health at UNC Chapel Hill, received a Ford Fellowship to study non-profit management at Columbia University and studied public policy through a Fleishman Fellowship at Tarry Sanford School of Duke University. He has supported various non-profits working on health and development aspects nationally and internationally. With his global health experience, he has contributed to various international forums and has written extensively on major global health issues and priorities. Dr. Tyagi is an active development practitioner and public health professional and has contributed significantly in the fields of maternal and child health, geriatrics, HIV, TB and occupational health through his writing, research and field work.
As the Executive Director of GRAVIS in India, he has led the organization for 10 years. GRAVIS works in the Thar Desert of India with key focuses on water security, food security and community health. GRAVIS reaches out to about 1.2 million people living in poverty with its work and has helped formation of over 3,000 Community Based Organizations
Jolene Skordis is a Professor of Economics, specialising in health and development. She is Vice-Dean (International and Advancement) for UCL’s Faculty of Population Health Sciences, Head of the Department of Environment and Community Health, Chair of the European Global Health Research Institutes Network, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for the Future of Work and a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health. She is a regular advisor to the WHO, World Bank and the Global Fund. She works primarily within randomised trials of complex public health interventions, with research programmes spanning fiscal space for sustainable and scalable health service delivery, anti-poverty programmes, gender empowerment, social networks to support behaviour change and the promotion of health equity. Her work has directly influenced government policy in a range of countries.
Alison is CEO of Age International and a member of the Age UK Senior Leadership Team. She leads Age International’s work on the needs and rights of older people across low- and middle-income countries, overseeing governance, advocacy, fundraising, communications, programme funding and humanitarian work.
Alison has over 25 years’ experience in international development. She was previously Managing Director of Sense International, working for and with people with disabilities. Before that she held senior roles at the International Planned Parenthood Federation, UNICEF UK, Bond and CAFOD. Her work on human rights has seen her travel extensively, most recently to visit work with older people in India, Rwanda, Vietnam, Pakistan and Tanzania.
Alison is on the Boards of the Disasters Emergency Committee, INTRAC and the Fairtrade Foundation.
She holds a MSc in NGO Management from Bayes Business School, a LLM in Human Rights from the University of London, and MAs from Sussex University and from Cambridge University where she studied Geography.
Alison has over 25 years’ experience in international development. She was previously Managing Director of Sense International, working for and with people with disabilities. Before that she held senior roles at the International Planned Parenthood Federation, UNICEF UK, Bond and CAFOD. Her work on human rights has seen her travel extensively, most recently to visit work with older people in India, Rwanda, Vietnam, Pakistan and Tanzania.
Alison is on the Boards of the Disasters Emergency Committee, INTRAC and the Fairtrade Foundation.
She holds a MSc in NGO Management from Bayes Business School, a LLM in Human Rights from the University of London, and MAs from Sussex University and from Cambridge University where she studied Geography.