Contribution to Sustainable Development: Effects of Climate Change Impact on Health

Dear Colleagues,

Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being at all ages is essential for sustainable development. However, as the world faces progressive and interconnected global crises and conflicts, the expectations set forth in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are in jeopardy. With the COVID-19 pandemic in its third year, the war in Ukraine is exacerbating the food, energy, humanitarian and refugee crises, all against the backdrop of a developing climate emergency. Using current data, the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022 provides evidence of the destructive effects of these crises on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

These situations could be exacerbated by climate change, which acts as a "crisis multiplier" and whose effects are already being felt around the world. Increasing heat waves, droughts and floods are affecting billions of people worldwide, contributing to increased poverty, hunger and instability. The COVID-19 pandemic, war and the political situations of nations further delay the urgent transition to greener economies. Based on current national commitments, global greenhouse gas emissions will have increased by almost 14% over the course of this decade.

Climate change is affecting all countries on all continents, disrupting national economies and affecting lives. Weather systems are changing, sea levels are rising, and weather events are becoming more extreme. The salinity of the sea is decreasing, causing a progressive deterioration of marine fauna, endangering fishermen's livelihoods and subsistence, especially in countries that receive income from fishing. The generation of animal and plant species for food and transgenic seeds, and the appearance of emerging diseases that put human subsistence at risk represent a paradigm shift in the way of understanding development, integrating the exclusively economic vision with the social, health and environmental dimensions. The dramatic change in the lives of billions of people around the world is already affecting health in many ways, for example, causing death and disease through increasingly frequent extreme weather events such as heat waves, storms and floods, disruption of food systems, increased zoonoses and microbiological and viral mutations, with the emergence of new diseases of varying severity.

Increasing environmental and water pollution reduce the productive capacity of fertile soils and are accompanied by chronic lesions in living organisms, affecting vision, oxygenation, skin and digestion, both in humans and animals, which, together with economic deterioration, inevitably and passively lead to the progressive deterioration of organic functions. The discourse on the need to urgently regulate and protect the environment has not caught on with governments, industries and the general population, which will lead to the destruction of the planet in the short term.
This Special Issue invites researchers to share new knowledge and perspectives on scientific advances in contributing to sustainable development and the impact of climate change on the health of humanity. We must deliver on our commitments to support the world's most vulnerable people, communities and nations. Creating global wellbeing that works for all will require bold action. Greater investment in data infrastructure is needed to target investments effectively now, anticipate future demands, prevent crises from escalating into widespread conflict, and plan the urgent actions needed to deliver on the 2030 Agenda.

Dr. Ángel Acevedo-Duque
Dr. Agustín Álvarez-Herranz
Guest Editors

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