The World Health Organisation (WHO) and other health stakeholders have called on governments to come up with a treaty aimed at eliminating the use of fossil fuel.
The 192 health and climate stakeholders led by WHO, Global Climate and Health Alliance, and other organisations drafted the proposal which raised concerns about the environmental effects of fossil fuels and health complications to human beings.
“The modern addiction to fossil fuels is not just an act of environmental vandalism. From the health perspective, it is an act of self-sabotage”, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of WHO stated.
Jeni Miller, Executive Director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, in a statement said that not only are fossil fuels toxic to human beings, every step of the fossil fuel cycle that is from mining, transport through pipelines to processing and burning the fuel for transport electricity and industrial use, puts peoples’ health at risk.
In the drafted letter, the organizations stated that the burden of health risks and impacts of climate change, air pollution, and proximity to extraction and processing sites fall on communities that are least responsible for fossil fuel emissions and have limited access to the resources and power to amend.
The long plea to end use of fossil fuel has seen many countries adapting other means of renewing energy.
Previous reports by health stakeholders have delved into how the world can equitably transition away from fossil fuels, with countries that have a higher financial and institutional capacity, needed to slow down on the fossil fuel production.