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Offener Brief
Corona-Krise als Chance für den Klimaschutz!

Veröffentlicht: 26.05.2020, 15:03 Uhr

Berlin. Ärzte, Therapeuten und Pflegekräfte haben von der Politik mehr Engagement für den Klima- und Umweltschutz gefordert. In einem „Offenen Brief“ rufen sie die Staats- und Regierungschefs der G20-Staaten auf, die Corona-Krise auch als Chance zu begreifen, Lebensweise und Wirtschaft neu zu gestalten.

Ein „wirklich gesunder Weg aus der Krise“ dulde nicht, „dass die Luft, die wir atmen, und das Wasser, das wir trinken, weiterhin verschmutzt werden“, heißt es in dem Brief. Gesundheitsexperten müssten an den wegen der Coronavirus-Pandemie aufgelegten Konjunkturpaketen beteiligt werden.

Zu den Unterzeichnern gehören der Weltärztebund, der Weltbund der Krankenschwestern und Krankenpfleger, die Weltorganisation der Haus- und Familienärzte sowie der Weltverband der Public Health Gesellschaften. In Deutschland haben sich mehrere Fachgesellschaften, Ärzteverbände, der Deutsche Pflegerat, die Stiftung Gesunde Erde – Gesunde Menschen sowie die Deutsche Allianz Klimawandel und Gesundheit (KLUG) dem Aufruf angeschlossen. „Wenn wir unseren Planeten weiterhin so zerstören wie bisher, wird es vermehrt zu verheerenden Naturereignissen wie Pandemien, Stürmen und Dürren kommen. Wir vergessen oft, dass diese auch massiv unsere Gesundheit gefährden.“, [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ], Sylvia Hartmann. Gesunde Menschen könne es nur auf einem gesunden Planeten geben. (hom)

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Der offene Brief:

On May 26, 2020, over 350 organisations representing over 40 million health professionals and over 4,500 individual health professionals from 90 different countries*, wrote to the G20 leaders calling for a #HealthyRecovery

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Der Guardian schreibt dazu ausführlicher:

World health leaders urge green recovery from coronavirus crisis

Open letter to G20 leaders says addressing climate breakdown key to global revival


An Extinction Rebellion pop-up cycle lane in west London. Some countries are investing in better cycle lanes and electric vehicle charging points. Photograph: Guy Bell/Rex/Shutterstock

Doctors and medical professionals from around the globe have called on world leaders to ensure a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis that takes account of air pollution and climate breakdown.

More than 200 organisations representing at least 40 million health workers – making up about half of the global medical workforce – [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ] and their chief medical advisers, pointing to the 7 million premature deaths to which air pollution contributes each year around the world.

Chief medical officers and chief scientific advisers must be directly involved in designing the stimulus packages now under way, the letter urges, in order to ensure they include considerations of public health and environmental concerns. They say public health systems should be strengthened, and they warn of how environmental degradation could help to unleash future diseases.

The signatories also want reforms to [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ], with public support shifted towards renewable energy, which they say would make for cleaner air, cut greenhouse gas emissions and help to spur economic growth of nearly [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ].

In the letter, the health professionals link air pollution and fragile public health systems with the impacts of the virus, saying air pollution “was already weakening our bodies”, [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ] of the disease.

“We have witnessed first-hand how fragile communities can be when their health, food security and freedom to work are interrupted by a common threat. The layers of this ongoing tragedy are many and magnified by inequality and under-investment in public health systems. We have witnessed death, disease and mental distress at levels not seen for decades,” they write.

Better preparation could have reduced the impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the letter. “We must learn from these mistakes and come back stronger, healthier and more resilient,” they write.

Studies have suggested that air pollution may play a role [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ], though scientists also say it is too early to draw hard conclusions about the full impacts. The clearing skies that have accompanied lockdown in many countries are [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ], however, as industrial activity resumes without new safeguards.

Last week a comprehensive study found daily carbon dioxide emissions around the world had [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ] as a result of the lockdowns, and that if normal activity resumed there would be only about a 4% fall for the full year, compared with last year. Such a fall [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ].

Some countries are considering a [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ] from the crisis by attaching stern conditions to any [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ], such as aviation, and by pumping money into infrastructure that [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ], from broadband for remote working to better cycle lanes and electric vehicle charging points. A recent study from Oxford University found this would yield more jobs and a [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ] as usual.

“Health professionals are at the frontlines of this emergency, and we are seeing the immense loss of lives because of acting too late,” said Miguel Jorge, the president of the World Medical Association. “We know now more than ever that healthy lives depend on a healthy planet. As we walk on the road to recovery, we need to build a system that will protect us from further damage. We need a healthy and green recovery.”

Health professionals are concerned that the world will resume its unhealthy practices as the immediate impacts of the coronavirus fade, without learning the lessons needed to put us on a healthier path that would reduce the likelihood of such devastating pandemics in future, as well as reducing illness from other causes and staving off climate breakdown.

“Covid-19 has forced the world to pause and take stock, providing us with a unique opportunity to make changes that will benefit the planet and all the people on it,” said Annette Kennedy, president of the International Council of Nurses. “Climate change poses an imminent and serious threat to the health of the world’s population. We are calling on governments to make sure that pollution levels do not return to previous levels, so that our children and grandchildren will be able to grow up healthily in a liveable and sustainable climate. Only by investing in both healthcare and the environment can we create a sustainable future.”

The signatories include the World Medical Association, the International Council of Nurses, the Commonwealth Nurses and Midwives Federation, the World Organization of Family Doctors and the World Federation of Public Health Associations, as well as thousands of individual health professionals.

The letter has been sent to all G20 leaders, including Boris Johnson, Angela Merkel and Xi Jinping, who are under pressure to approve a green recovery, as well as those who have been criticised for a lax approach to the crisis or for using it to weaken environmental protections, including Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and [ Link nur für registrierte Mitglieder sichtbar. Bitte einloggen oder neu registrieren ].

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