Climate Change, Public Health & Human Rights

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change poses a cataclysmic threat to public health and human rights. Global health is inextricably linked to planetary health, with a changing climate influencing the conditions necessary for health and safety while undermining a range of human rights. International negotiations to mitigate emissions—from the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the 2015 Paris Agreement—have faced limitations in addressing the health hazards caused by the unfolding climate crisis. These inequitable health threats pose sweeping implications for health-related human rights, especially in low- and middle-income countries, with environmental degradation challenging the most fundamental conditions for human life and the individual dignity and rights of vulnerable populations and future generations. Human rights can provide a legal path to ensure international mitigation efforts and health system adaptation to address both the direct and indirect public health impacts of climate change – including extreme weather events, rising sea levels, pervasive air pollution, infectious disease prevalence, food and nutrition security, water and sanitation systems, and mental health promotion. This Special Issue addresses the dynamic balance between global health and climate justice, with a focus on the public health threats of anthropogenic climate change and the human rights advancements necessary to frame national and global policies for mitigation and adaptation. We welcome manuscripts from a wide range of climate policymakers and interdisciplinary scholars, and expect to publish research papers, policy reviews, brief reports, and commentaries in this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Benjamin Mason Meier
Dr. Flavia Bustreo
Prof. Lawrence O. Gostin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.