India refrains from signing COP28 Health and Climate Declaration

DUBAI: India on Sunday refrained from signing the COP28 Declaration on Climate and Health, with sources pointing out that curbing greenhouse gas use for cooling in the health sector, which is one of the points in the document, may not be practical or achievable within the country’s healthcare infrastructure in the short term.

The declaration calls for climate action to achieve “benefits for health from deep, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, including from just transitions, lower air pollution, active mobility, and shifts to sustainable healthy diets”.

On the occasion of the first Health Day at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) on Sunday, the declaration expressed grave concern about the negative impacts of climate change

on health.

The declaration is signed by 124 countries till now with the US and India, which are among the top greenhouse gas emitters, absent from the list of signatories.

India had put emphasis on resilient health in its G20 declaration. The three health priorities of India’s G20 presidency were building a resilient healthcare system, creating a platform for improving access to medical countermeasures and creating a platform for sharing digital goods between countries. The COP28 Declaration underscores the importance of addressing the broad spectrum of impacts that climate change has on health.

This includes considerations for mental health

and psychosocial well-being, preservation of traditional medicinal knowledge,

protection of livelihoods and cultures, and dealing with

climate-induced displacement and migration.