The UWI Regional Headquarters Jamaica. Monday, September 20, 2021—An unprecedented consortium of more than 25 international, US, and Caribbean organisations, including The University of the West Indies (The UWI), has come together to address the public health challenge of climate change in the Caribbean, one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to the adverse health effects of the climate crisis.
The first step in this collaboration is a virtual conference that will be held October 5-8, 2021. Registration for the conference is free and is available here. Simultaneous interpretation from English to Spanish and English to French will be available. A complete list of consortium partners can be found here.
Climate change is having multiple adverse health effects in the Caribbean. More intense hurricanes, accelerating sea level rise, extreme heat, warming oceans, drought, and other climate change impacts cause food and water insecurity, hurricane-induced disruption of medical care for persons living with chronic diseases, heat-related illness, spread of vector-borne and water-borne infections, diminished air quality, and mental health disorders.
The Caribbean’s costly non-communicable disease epidemic – cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and respiratory disease – is in part caused by climate change drivers. For example, in addition to emitting greenhouse gases, fossil fuel-dependent mechanized agriculture and motorized transport contribute to air pollution, sedentariness, unhealthy diets, obesity, and mental illness.
The Caribbean region comprises some 16 diverse, independent countries and 15 territories of G-20 members, with more than 40 million residents and over 50 million visitors annually. The region has of necessity developed some climate adaptation and disaster response and recovery capacity, but is limited by inadequate access to financing, by weak monitoring and data systems for evidence-informed planning and execution, and by challenges in alignment of effort across such a diverse range of countries, territories, and sectors.
The conference focuses on the information key stakeholders need for action:
- October 5: The Varied Effects of Climate Change on Health
- October 6: Immediate Health Benefits of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
- October 7: The Health Sector and its Role in Addressing Climate Change and Health
- October 8: Participation, Representation, and Collaboration to Implement the Research Agenda
Expected conference outputs include:
- An action-oriented research and implementation agenda to address knowledge and implementation gaps
- A white paper for publication in a peer-reviewed journal
- A communication product for the public and media
- A presentation of the conference results at the WHO Global Conference on Health and Climate Change COP26 side event
The University of the West Indies will be offering the knowledge of nine contributors who boast expertise across various areas. Among them are Dr. Barbara Carby, former Director of the Disaster Risk Reduction Centre; Professor Michelle Mycoo, Geomatics Engineering and Land Management, The UWI St. Augustine Campus; Professor Mona Webber, Director of the Centre for Marine Sciences, The UWI Mona Campus; Professor Hazel Oxenford, Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies, The UWI Cave Hill Campus; Mr. Jeremy Collymore, Institute for Sustainable Development; Professor Chris Oura, School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, The UWI St. Augustine Campus; Mr. Rashad Brathwaite, Faculty of Law, The UWI Cave Hill Campus; Professor Michael Taylor, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, The UWI Mona Campus; and Dr. Georgiana Gordon-Strachan, Director of the Tropical Metabolism Research Unit, Caribbean Institute for Health Research (CAIHR).
A key conference goal is the formation and strengthening of networks and linkages among participants to help promote action on climate change and health. After the conference, the consortium will work to finalize the research and implementation agenda and to obtain funding for, and coordinate and track progress in, its implementation.
The conference has received funding from The Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Memorial Fund, the Council on Latin American & Iberian Studies at The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the European Union, the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, the Yale Institute for Global Health, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Guardian Group Charitable Foundation.
According to Dr. Stacy Richards-Kennedy, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Global Affairs at The UWI, “The UWI is pleased to join forces with our regional and international partners to place the spotlight on the important nexus between climate change and health. Sustaining the momentum of our collective action is the only way to effectively address our current climate crisis. Global warming continues to wreak havoc on the Caribbean and at the same time, our highly vulnerable SIDS are also grappling with a financial crisis precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the multiple effects of chronic diseases on our populations. As we build up to COP 26, The UWI remains committed to strengthening the science-policy interface and to amplifying the perspectives and experiences of Caribbean states in the global discourse on climate change.”
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Pro Vice-Chancellor, Global Affairs, Dr. Stacy Richards-Kennedy.
About The UWI
The UWI has been and continues to be a pivotal force in every aspect of Caribbean development; residing at the centre of all efforts to improve the well-being of people across the region.
From a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948, The UWI is today an internationally respected, global university with near 50,000 students and five campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda and its Open Campus, and 10 global centres in partnership with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe.
The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Culture, Creative and Performing Arts, Food and Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities and Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology, Social Sciences, and Sport. As the Caribbean’s leading university, it possesses the largest pool of Caribbean intellect and expertise committed to confronting the critical issues of our region and wider world.
Ranked among the top universities in the world, by the most reputable ranking agency, Times Higher Education, The UWI is the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists. In 2020, it earned ‘Triple 1st’ rankings—topping the Caribbean; and in the top in the tables for Latin America and the Caribbean, and global Golden Age universities (between 50 and 80 years old). The UWI is also featured among the top universities on THE’s Impact Rankings for its response to the world’s biggest concerns, outlined in the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Good Health and Wellbeing; Gender Equality and Climate Action.
For more, visit www.uwi.edu.
(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)
