Professor Yutaka Suzuki, Director, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies Kansai Research Center, and Vice-President of The University of Hyogo;
Mr Toshizo Ido, Governor of Hyogo Prefecture;
Mr Kazuhiko Takemoto, Vice-minister for Global Environmental Affairs, Ministry of the Environment, Japan;
Distinguished guests; Ladies and Gentlemen
I am very pleased to welcome you to this opening session of the IGES-WHO Joint International Symposium 2009 on Climate Change, Environment and Health. It is quite fitting that this — my first speech in the Region as the new WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific — comes at a symposium that addresses one of my four priority areas: responding to public health emergencies and risks, including climate change.
As we all know, climate change affects the availability and quality of our freshwater; the quality of the air we breathe; and the production and safety of our food, all major determinants of our health and quality of life. Climate change also increases the frequency of extreme weather events — such as heat waves, floods, droughts and storms — and their intensity.
In the year 2000, the Western Pacific Region was the first WHO region to address climate change and its impact on health in small island countries when we conducted a regional workshop for Pacific island countries. Similar activities for countries in the Caribbean Sea and Indian Ocean followed, which led to a 2005 WHO publication on climate change and their effects on health in small island states.
More recently, the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, in collaboration with the Regional Office for South-East Asia, held two consultations with Member States to develop a regional framework for action to protect human health from the effects of climate change in the Asia Pacific region. This regional framework focuses on action in three areas.
First, it aims to increase awareness of the health consequences of climate change. Secondly, it is intended to strengthen the capacity of health systems to provide protection from climate-related risks and substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated by the health sector. Finally, it hopes to ensure that health concerns are addressed in decisions to reduce risks from climate change in other sectors.
The WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific, which is our regional governing body, discussed and endorsed the framework in September 2008. Similar plans were developed in other regions, and the WHO global workplan on climate change and health was endorsed by the WHO Executive Board in January of this year.
Currently, our Regional Office, working with the mandate of Member States and in collaboration with other WHO offices, is developing guidelines for use by Member States in health vulnerability and adaptation assessments. We also are preparing training modules on climate change and health. In addition, we are supporting Cambodia, Mongolia and Samoa in their efforts to assess health vulnerability and develop national plans for health sector adaptation to climate change.
Our venue today, the WHO Kobe Centre, was established in the aftermath of the 17 January 1995 Kobe earthquake that claimed nearly 6500 lives. Ever since that horrifying day, disaster management has been close to the hearts of the people of Kobe city and Hyogo Prefecture. In fact, just a month after the December 2004 Asian tsunami, Kobe hosted the United Nations World Conference on Disaster Reduction that produced the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005–2015. The key action areas included in the Hyogo Framework have become more relevant as extreme weather disasters caused by climate change become more frequent.
Disaster management has been a backbone of the WHO Kobe Centre's programmes. In 2007, the Kobe Centre developed a training manual for cities in the Region, with a focus on managing the health impact of disasters such as heat waves, floods and the events related to climate change. In addition, the Centre convened a workshop in November 2008 to identify a research and action agenda for climate change and health in urban settings.
For many years, the Japanese Government has been a leader in advocating the human security approach for global health, and it has supported the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security. The human security approach goes beyond the traditional focus on the security of nations to include concern for the security of individuals and communities. It focuses not only on protecting individuals and their health, but strives to empower them through health system strengthening. Human security also is an important concept in dealing with the health effects of climate change.
Japan has been a strong advocate for strengthening the response to climate change, and the Ministry of the Environment has played a key role in developing policies and programmes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change. Japan participates actively in negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and demonstrated leadership in the recent G8 summits that considered climate change mitigation issues.
In closing, I would like to thank the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies for joining us in organizing this symposium. I look forward to the active participation of all of you in discussions on this important global issue
Enjoy your time in this beautiful city.
Thank you