KUALA LUMPUR – Prime Minister’s special adviser on public health, Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood, addressed FinanceforChange virtual conference attendees this morning on how the pandemic is a dress rehearsal for the reality of ongoing global climate conditions.
She stressed that the times we are living is an actual “crisis of consumption/overpopulation of ecological and climatological rape, rampant corruption, and ransacking behaviours driven by naked greed and those who seem to be unable to hold to account”.
“It is a crisis of inequity and inequality. Just look at how the vaccine programs differ between the rich and poor nations of the world."
Stating that Covid-19 did not come out of thin air, the environmental destruction for the sake of short-term economic growth is proof towards increasing the risks of future pandemics.
“Our destructive actions like deforestation and wildlife trafficking heightens the interaction between wildlife and humans, making it easier for diseases to be transmitted. This occurrence is called ‘zoonosis’, which causes outbreaks to happen more frequently,” shared Jemilah.
“Additionally, the deterioration of our living environment (increasing air and water pollution) increases our collective vulnerability to diseases and the effect of a less stable climate.
“The health of our planet is aligned with and has a huge bearing on the health and well-being of humanity. Covid-19 is indeed a dress rehearsal for a very difficult future – one that we are moving towards at breakneck speed,” she added.
‘The time to act was yesterday, the next is now…’
According to the public health official, while the pandemic has brought a new phrase and desire to get back to normal as soon as possible, “… let’s just stop and think about what it means”.
“My personal view is that the pandemic has provided us with a collective opportunity on reflecting the ideals, and it is certainly not what we had prior to the virus,” shared Jemilah.
She added that our politically correct non-alarmist labels and approaches in view of the situation simply will not do if we are to come out of it successfully, because Covid-19 won’t be the last or the largest.
She noted the country is missing on an overarching planetary health approach that is integrated to improve the condition of the people and our planet.
“This poses severe humanitarian consequences, climate migration, food insecurity, and economic recession as a result.
“We are facing a crisis of dependency on fossil fuels driven expansively by large corporations that lobby governments to maintain such subsidies instead of investing in green solutions.
“If you do not believe me, just take a look at our own backyard, Malaysia has around 300 electric car charging stations as of last year but comparatively China has around 607,000. We are not a poor nation, but we are lagging behind others in getting carbon emissions down,” shared the public health adviser, noting that the global cost of preventing a possible future pandemic over the next 10 years is smaller, around 2%, than the total economic damage from Covid-19.
“Public-private partnership is key but facilitating these engagements will require a new, more stringent regulatory and legislative setting.
According to Jemilah, what it means on a national level is holding our leaders – as well as those involved on an individual level – accountable for the decisions made within the given time spaces to exercise our responsibilities.
*Follow the ongoing discussion in detail below…
A platform of knowledge and capability sharing
Jemilah’s address was part of the presentation in a three-day online conference organised by the Joint Committee on Climate Change, which aims to encourage the country’s financial service sector to act and lead the climate change and sustainability efforts locally.
On the first day, notable broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough joined in to open the event with a personal call to describe the state of our planetary health and symbiotic relationship between businesses and environmental stability. – The Vibes, June 25, 2021
*More in the video below…
