PolySci Exam 3
Global governance and Climate Change
, global governance is fundamental to achieving climate change Because climate change is an atmospheric problem and because its effects are transnational, countries must work together to address the problem More broadly, climate change is such a large issue that nongovernmental actors, corporations, and governments across all lelves are likely to be part of any solution Even if nation states reach agreement on how to address these issues, the interconnected nature of the environment necessitates that people recognize the global consequences of their personal actions Alterative and renewable energy sources—success depends on the choices individuals make that will have a positive impact on the environment and its sustainability for future generations
Climate Change effects on Flora and Fauna
-A likely loss and degradation of habitats -Changing environmental thresholds, such as temperature or water, beyond what species can tolerate -Loss of key interactions between two unrelated species or the arrival of new, negative ones, such as diseases -The disruption of environmental cues important for breeding or migration -The direct loss or organisms
Stabilization wedges
An idea of developing a set of specific approaches to stabilize the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
Rank of countries with the most emissions (2015)
1. China 2. US 3. India 4. Russia 5. Japan
Defining health on a global scale
According to international institutions, health is not merely the absence of disease, but also the maintenance of a state of well-being. This involves a conception of health is a human right, guaranteed around the world, but not yet universally upheld, even in developed countries. Health is determined by multiple, globally interlinked factors, such as climate change, food security and production, the cost and availability of medication, and nutrition. Calls for global solutions therefore, improved health requires the creation and implementation of inclusive, cross-border solutions this includes work at the policy level as well as research and development of vaccines and medications for all people, not solely the ones who can afford them on the ground, it mandates the availability and affordability of quality health services
Kyoto Protocol
After the signing of the UNFCCC treaty, Parties to the UNFCCC met at regular conferences to discuss how to achieve the treaty's aims. The 1st Conference of the Parties (COP-1) decided that the aim of Annex I Parties stabilizing their emissions at 1990 levels by the year 2000 was "not adequate" and further discussions at later conferences led to the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol sets emissions targets for developed countries which are binding under international law. Was an important breakthrough, as specific guidelines were developed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions While developed countries committed to the lowering of annual carbon emissions, developing countries were exempted from the mandate, even as they were encouraged to engage With few mechanisms available to ensure compliance, the results were limited at best, with the US and China continuing to contribute heavily to the fouling of the atmosphere Indeed, worldwide emissions actually rose nearly 40% between 1990 and 2009 The US did not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, while Canada denounced it in 2012. The Kyoto Protocol was ratified by all the other Annex I Parties.
U.S. Response to Ebola
Although the actual risk to Americans from Ebola was negligible, the sense of alarm grew as three cases were diagnosed in the United States that October. In the lead-up to the 2014 midterm elections, politicized panic surged. Lawmakers called for a travel ban on people from the affected areas. General John F. Kelly, then chief of U.S. Southern Command, and until recently White House Chief of Staff, warned of a stampede across the U.S. southern border if the disease reached Central America. Trump, who tweeted roughly 100 times about Ebola between July and November, called for flights to be stopped and American health-care workers to be cut loose if they became infected abroad. Yet Obama stayed the course, resisting calls for travel restrictions and quarantines that would have made it harder to recruit volunteers, deliver medical assistance, and end the epidemic. Eventually, the United States recognized the risk of a global pandemic and stepped forward to lead the response, deploying some 3,000 U.S. troops and 10,000 civilians, including volunteers, and mobilizing dozens of other countries.
Tragedy of the Commons
An economic problem in which every individual tries to reap the greatest benefit from a given resource. As the demand for the resource overwhelms the supply, every individual who consumes an additional unit directly harms others who can no longer enjoy the benefits. Generally, the resource of interest is easily available to all individuals. For example, if neighboring farmers increase the number of their own sheep living on a common block of land, eventually the land will become depleted and not be able to support the sheep, which is detrimental to all. The tragedy of the commons occurs when individuals neglect the well-being of society (or the group) in the pursuit of personal gain.
Deforestation
Approximately 31 percent of the earth's surface is covered by forest, but that figure is declining Estimated that roughly 46 to 58,000 square miles of forest are lost each year, the equivalent of 36 football fields every minute Population growth has contributed significantly to this loss of trees, as clearing of forests provides opportunities for cultivating crops and grazing animals Activities of commercial logging companies seeking to capitalize on world demand for timber have also added to devastation Consequences are significant not only for destruction of land but also the wildlife that resides there
Ebola from March 2020-present
As of 6 March, no new cases had been recorded for 18 consecutive days - however the outbreak was not yet over and there was a continued need for vigilance. The outbreak will be officially declared over 42 days after the last Ebola survivor has been declared free of infection and discharged from an Ebola treatment clinic. Forty-two days is the length of two incubation periods of the disease and is considered the point at which it can be reasonably safe to declare an outbreak over. Sadly, a new case of Ebola recorded April 8, 2020 in the DRC. It was the first such report in 52 days, and came just 2 days before the WHO was set to declare the official end of the outbreak. Already, clinicians and scientists on the frontline of that crisis have shifted their attention to COVID-19. But now, their efforts at the site of the Ebola outbreak must continue, too.
Increasing international focus
By 1970s, increasing recognition of the reality of transborder pollution and a new global consciousness of its scope and impact It is increasingly being recognized that most critical environmental problems are global issues that seem to most lend themselves to global solutions Transborder Pollution Such problems elude the jurisdictions of any national government and pay no attention to matters of national sovereignty
Progress towards 90-90-90 Goal
By 2016, about 70% of people living with AIDS knew their status, nearly 80% of people who knew their status were on ARTs, and about 85-90% of people who were on ARTS saw viral suppression
COP21 versus Paris Agreement
COP21 (the 21st Conference of Parties under the UNFCCC) was more modest in the means and end than previous meetings—no attempt to create a new international agreement or create global environmental markets. Instead, Paris gathering asked individual countries (including less-wealthy developing countries) to produce and commit to individually determined contributions that would over time reduce their carbon output. Paris Agreement entirely aspirational rather than mandated—agreed that each country had the obligation to set for itself what it judged to be an ambitious but achievable goal in reducing its carbon output (or reducing the amount of increase in output) and then to do what it could to meet or better that goal. With all agreements, the problems have not been on recognizing a need for cooperation; instead, the problem comes in achieving consensus over what ought to be each country's "share" of combating climate change, either by reducing its own carbon output or helping others reduce their, or both.
The WHO's response to COVID-19
COVID-19 outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020 and a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. The first time the WHO has called an outbreak a pandemic since the H1N1 "swine flu" in 2009.the WHO is placing it in a different category than several recent deadly outbreaks, including the recent Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Zika virus outbreak in 2016 and the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. All three of those outbreaks were deemed to be international emergencies. This means that it had spread to many people, and many communities, at the same time.
Global governance and health
COVID-19, like other highly infectious, serious diseases in a highly mobile population, spreads across geopolitical boundaries and requires multisectoral coordination and collaboration in order to effectively respond and mitigate the consequences of the outbreak. It underscores why global health governance is critical to saving lives.
CO2 emissions chart
Carbon dioxide is the most important of the long-lived greenhouse gases responsible for Earth's natural greenhouse effect. Without greenhouse gases, Earth's average surface temperature would be near 0°F instead of close to 60°F. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1700s, global carbon dioxide amounts have risen more than 45 percent. That additional carbon dioxide has warmed the planet and made the oceans more acidic.
Increasing environmental awareness
Carbon dioxide is the most important of the long-lived greenhouse gases responsible for Earth's natural greenhouse effect. Without greenhouse gases, Earth's average surface temperature would be near 0°F instead of close to 60°F. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1700s, global carbon dioxide amounts have risen more than 45 percent. That additional carbon dioxide has warmed the planet and made the oceans more acidic.
Global CO2 emissions from Fossil Fuel Combustion and some Industrial Processes
China: 30% Other: 30% United States: 15% European Union: 9% India: 7% Russia: 5% Japan: 4%
International consensus on climate change
Climate change is real, it is largely caused by human activity, it constitutes a threat that will affect not just populations in lower-lying areas, but also societies and economies everywhere given the potential impact on weather, health, agriculture, water and food security
The World Health Organization (WHO)
Critical to all global health efforts is the World Health Organization established in 1948 as a specialized agency of the United Nations charged with improving global public health, coordinating the international response to epidemics, and the like. In the ensuing decades, its staff has served on the frontlines of public health battles, from the eradication of smallpox to the fight against HIV-AIDS to the challenges of noncommunicable diseases. has a responsibility to prevent, early-detect, and manage outbreaks, and it can do this by strengthening countries' capacity. But, as a large entity governed by 196 member states, WHO can find it difficult to service the diversity of global health needs
Alma-Ata Declaration, 1978
Declaration that occurred from a global meeting convened by the World Health Organization; the Alma-Ata Declaration shaped the global health agenda in particular through promulgating definitions, setting goals, and emphasizing primary health care as an anchor for global health
Desertification
Degradation of land in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas resulting from variations in the climate and human activities Estimated that around 52 percent of land used for agriculture is moderately or severely affected, impacting 1.5b people Many of these victims are among the world's poorest Results of desertification are less food production, increased downstream flooding and reduced water quality In Africa alone, soil erosion has reduced the grain harvest by 8%, while 65% of arable land and 30% of grazing land has been damaged
Thermal expansion
Expansion of water due to rising temperatures
Climate Change effects on human settlements
Food security, availability of freshwater, migration as sea levels rise and coastal areas will be uninhabitable, increased risk of conflict, health concerns as pollution increases
Paris Agreement
Four years of negotiations began in 2011, when parties adopted the "Durban Platform for Enhanced Action." As part of the Durban Platform, parties have agreed to "develop a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties" parties noted "with grave concern" that current efforts to hold global warming to below 2 or 1.5 °C relative to the pre-industrial level appeared inadequate.
Global Environmental Challenges
Fragile nature of the world's resources. Purposeful and inadvertent degradation: deforestation, desertification, water supply, air quality. ´Greenhouse effect: rise in the earth's temperature due to greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere ´Significant increase in these gases due to burning of fossil fuels ´Result: rise in earth's average temperature ´NOAA data: 2017 average global temperature across land and ocean surface areas was 0.84°C (1.51°F) above the twentieth-century average of 13.9°C (57.0°F) ´making it the third-warmest year on record behind 2016 (warmest) and 2015 (second warmest). Accumulated heat: Behind the seemingly small increase in global average surface temperature over the past century is a significant increase in accumulated heat. ´Effects of rising temperatures and accumulated heat most evident in global warming: stems largely from the large-scale emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere
Global Health Security
Framing global health concerns through a security lens, for example as sources of threat that would endanger human populations
Accumulated Heat
Given the size and tremendous heat capacity of the global oceans, it takes a massive amount of accumulated heat energy to raise Earth's average yearly surface temperature even a small amount. Behind the seemingly small increase in global average surface temperature over the past century is a significant increase in accumulated heat. That extra heat is driving regional and seasonal temperature extremes, reducing snow cover and sea ice, intensifying heavy rainfall, and changing habitat ranges for plants and animals—expanding some and shrinking others.
Challenges presented by global forces
Global transmission of disease across borders have never been greater, and many of the features of the global environment contribute to this trend: Environmental challenges to technological innovation that facilitates travel, political unrest that forces migration, and economic imperative for trade, all these factors have moved people and diseases rapidly around the world. There is a global fear of pandemics, the spread of diseases across a wide geographical area and to a large population. These kinds of concerns are not new—Black Death, bubonic plague in 1300s, Spanish flu in early 20thc killed more than 50m. Concerns that are more recent have revolved around severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) which affected 8000 people and resulted in 750 deaths in 2003 outbreak, Recurrent outbreaks of avian and swine flu, And, of course, now with COVID-19. There are no borders when it comes to diseases
HIV and AIDS pandemic
Has claimed millions of lives, and today more than 30 million people are living with HIV. In the past decade there has been great progress in limiting new infections. Disease is global and affects almost every world region. The response of the disease allowed for international governments and organizations to come together to control the spread. The disease has been treated primarily vertical - education, treatment, and changing behavior oriented toward stemming the spread of disease. About 35 million have died from the disease worldwide. Sub-Saharan and South Africa have been affected the most, along with the Western part of South America, along with parts of Asia like India. In 2016, approximately 1 million people died and there were 1.8 million new infections. In the 1990's, medical scientists developed cocktails of anti-retroviral drugs that changed HIV from a death sentence to a controllable chronic disease. Yet, the treatment was extremely expensive at first, but now 53% with HIV have access to the ART. Treatment access has improved because of decrease in cost, improved access to funding and normative and legal changes. There is still a long way to go, with over a million new infections and deaths each year. UNAIDS has set a 90-90-90 goal: by 2020, 90% of people with HIV will know their status, 90% of them will have access to anti-retroviral drugs, and 90% of those with ARTS will have viral suppression (the drugs will be effective)
Horizontal intervention
Healthcare interventions that aim at improving baseline conditions, such as access to clean water, education, or clinics
Vertical intervention
Healthcare interventions that focus on addressing one specific healthcare issue, such as a vaccine
Compromised Air Quality
Human activity has also damaged the atmosphere, perhaps irreparably Air pollution from industrial output and the burning of fossil fuels, combined with the devastation of the rain forest, which naturally absorbs carbon emissions, has resulted in what is commonly referred to as the greenhouse effect (The rise in the earth's temperature due to greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere) While the release of greenhouse gases—that is, gases that trap heat in the atmosphere—occurs naturally, the amount of these gases in the atmosphere has expanded significantly due to the burning of fossil fuels As a result, the average temperature of the earth has increased Based on NOAA data, the 2017 average global temperature across land and ocean surface areas was 0.84°C (1.51°F) above the twentieth-century average of 13.9°C (57.0°F), making it the third-warmest year on record behind 2016 (warmest) and 2015 (second warmest). It was the warmest non-El-Niño year in the record. Global temperature hasn't been cooler than the twentieth-century average since 1976. Since the start of the twenty-first century, the annual global temperature record has been broken five times. From 1900 to 1980 a new temperature record was set on average every 13.5 years; however, since 1981 it has increased to every 3 years.
Greenhouse Effect
Idea that certain gases trap heat inside the atmosphere, heating the climate as windows would trap heat inside a greenhouse
Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs)
Models for predicting the severity of increase in greenhouse gases in the future
Ebola Virus Information
It is often difficult to make the case for the international system, an imperfect composition of institutions, norms, and rules built over seven decades to guide an unruly planet toward greater peace, prosperity, and freedom.Ebola a nasty disease—a hemorrhagic fever If you contract it, you are likely to bleed uncontrollably, develop an extremely high fever, and die if you do not receive proper treatment. Become infected by coming into direct contact with or eating infected animals or by coming into direct contact with body fluids of someone who is infected, such as vomit, blood or spit. Worst outbreak to date stated in 2014 in West Africa and lasted for about 2 years Initial case in Guinea, spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone, and eventually to Niger, Mali and the US WHO reported more than 28,000 cases, 11,000 deaths. Sparked international alarm: because humans cross borders all the time, and human-to-human infection was quick, the risk that the disease could spread well beyond West Africa was real. In the end, a concerted response by the CDC, the WHO and some international NGOs, and the national governments of those most affected contained and controlled the disease By 2016, WHO declared it to be over. Had a slow, imperfect international response. The WHO ignored repeated warnings of a mounting crisis. It did not declare an international public health emergency until weeks after the disease had reached capital cities with populations in the millions. By the time the virus was finally beaten back in 2016, it had killed 11,300 people, infected 28,600 people, orphaned more than 17,300 children, devastated local economies, and caused a wave of fear in the outside world that manifested in rabid hostility toward returning health-care workers and immigrant communities.
Radiative Forcing
Key metric in climate science, it refers to the net change in energy balance of the Earth
How Ebola and COVID-19 demonstrate the ways in which health is global
Many diseases are inherently cross-national.Health is global in the cross-border delivery of care and in the transnational humanitarian concern that often gives rise to cross-border health care delivery.Health is global in the way that cross-cutting global forces shape the field Global governance is core to the field—intergovernmental organizations such as WHO or Global Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, play a very large role in setting agendas, establishing rules and guidelines, creating standards, defining key concepts, monitoring diseases and providing scientific neutral information and disseminating it to the public. Nongovernmental organizations also often key players—providing health care directly but also serving as advocates, messengers and fundraisers. It is often difficult to make the case for the international system, an imperfect composition of institutions, norms, and rules built over seven decades to guide an unruly planet toward greater peace, prosperity, and freedom.
Global Health Field
Maternal and Reproductive health, pediatrics, immunization, infectious diseases, nutrition or consumption of food in relation to health, chronic disease, injuries and violence, mental health, environmental health, and essential medicines
Clean Development Mechanism
Mechanism for reducing overall carbon levels in the atmosphere through development projects
US and Paris Agreement
On June 1, 2017, United States President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would cease all participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation. Trump stated that "The Paris accord will undermine (the U.S.) economy," and "puts (the U.S.) at a permanent disadvantage." Argued that it placed disproportionate burden on the country During the presidential campaign, Trump had pledged to withdraw from the pact, saying a withdrawal would help American businesses and workers Trump stated that the withdrawal would be in accordance with his America First policy. In accordance with Article 28 of the Paris Agreement, the earliest possible effective withdrawal date by the United States cannot be before November 4, 2020, four years after the Agreement came into effect in the United States and one day after the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The White House later clarified that the U.S. will abide by the four-year exit process. Until the withdrawal takes effect, the United States may be obligated to maintain its commitments under the Agreement, such as the requirement to continue reporting its emissions to the United Nations. U.S. the only UNFCCC member state intending to not be a party to the Agreement In addition, many states, cities and localities have expressed their intention to pursue policies that fall within the guidelines of the accord
Sustainable Development goals and Public health
One critical part of the SDGs is attention to global health, particularly the spread of infectious disease. Goal 3 seeks to "ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages". The aim of the SDGs is to leave no one behind by 2030. a record of progress in this regard while remarkable progress towards the SDGs has been made in some areas, in other areas progress has stalled and the gains that have been made could easily be lost. Many more people today are living healthier lives than in the past decade. The crusade toward global health has achieved many victories smallpox, once an uncompromising killer, has been eradicated; guinea worm eliminated children are receiving vaccines to prevent measles, mumps and tetanus. Improvements have been made to combat malaria once a day medications for HIV/AIDS have been developed, and generic drugs are being used to make treatment more available. Of course, challenges remain. The world is facing multiple health challenges. These range from: outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and diphtheria, increasing reports of drug-resistant pathogens, growing rates of obesity and physical inactivity people are still suffering needlessly from preventable diseases, and too many are dying prematurely. Health impacts of environmental pollution and climate change and multiple humanitarian crises.
Public Health Emergency of International Concern
PHEIC is an official designation the WHO can give to an outbreak in order to sound the international alarm. It can galvanize attention and trigger the release of 'resources — money and personnel — to help stop a disease from spreading globally.
Global Health
Public health on a global scale. Wide range of transnational activities that promote public health for all people around the world
Response to Ebola in 2018
Rapid response in 2018 In May, the Congolese government recognized the risk in one region of the country, Equateur, immediately and alerted the WHO. Within hours of receiving laboratory confirmation, the WHO activated its emergency management system, which directs resources and personnel from across its organization to where they are needed. Within days, the UN began ferrying health-care workers and supplies to the center of the outbreak, and donor nations, including the United States, released emergency funds. Less than two weeks after the outbreak began, frontline health-care workers received the protection of a new tool: an Ebola vaccine. And perhaps most significant, the response demonstrated the value of investing in local health-care systems, as more than three-quarters of those deployed came from within the region.
Water Supply Challenges
Similar problems exist for water—perhaps the most critical resource for human survival Estimates suggest that globally, 663m people lack access to safe water supplies 1.5b people are affected each year by water-related disease 160m children suffer from malnutrition related to water and sanitation The quest for energy resources has frequently fouled water resources through oil spills and nuclear tragedies Human activity has contributed to this pollution, from bodies of water being used as waste disposal sites for animals and trash to runoffs from agriculture and industry that bring toxic pollutants into the water supply As result, freshwater is becoming scarcer The completion for access to water becomes highly politicized Across a highly volatile Middle East, some have suggested that future conflict may be as much about water as it will be competing claims to the land
ELEMENTS
The eight main goals from the Alma-Ata declaration: education, local disease control, expanded immunization, maternal and child health, essential drugs, nutrition and food supply, treatment of disease and injury, and sanitation of water and safe water supply
Evidence of Climate change
Temperature change, sea levels, glaciers and ice sheets, precipitation and extreme weather events
COP21
The 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. In 2015, all (then) 196 then parties to the convention came together for the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris 30 November - 12 December and adopted by consensus the Paris Agreement, aimed at limiting global warming to less than two degrees Celsius (3.5 degrees Fahrenheit), and pursue efforts to limit the rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Effects of Global Health Security Agenda
The Global Health Security Agenda, which still exists under the Trump Administration, has strengthened the capacity of countries to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats. Response in the DRC: The Ebola outbreak - by far the biggest Congo has seen, and the world's second largest in history - was declared by national authorities in August 2018. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and PATH, an international global health NGO, have helped the Ministry of Health establish the country's first Emergency Operations Center, the hub from which officials are tracking the spread of Ebola and coordinating the response. The new Ebola vaccine is a monument to global partnership.
Limited impact of COP21
The Paris Agreement entered into force on November 4, 2016. National commitments are not legally binding—complicates efforts to sustain momentum and uniformity But, what could prove critical are the assessments to be made of national programs and their effects at five-year intervals and the reactions to them, which might create pressure within countries to adopt policies that delink economic growth and activities from the increased use of fossil fuels or risk being "named and shamed." On balance, the accord broke new ground in terms of its underlying approach and range of participation and in setting the framework for future deliberations
UNFCCC and UNCED
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was opened for signature at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro (known by its popular title, the Earth Summit). Was the largest gathering ever held on global environmental issues to adopt guiding policies that would slow down and perhaps someday eliminate pollution of the earth On 12 June 1992, 154 nations signed the UNFCCC, which upon ratification committed signatories' governments to reduce atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases with the goal of "preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with Earth's climate system". This commitment would require substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Article 3(1) of the Convention stated that Parties should act to protect the climate system on the basis of "common but differentiated responsibilities" and that developed country Parties should "take the lead" in addressing climate change. The Framework Convention specified the aim of developed countries stabilizing their greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels, by the year 2000.
When have PHEICs occurred
The WHO has only declared a public health emergency four times since the International Health Regulations, which govern global health emergency responses, were enacted in 2007. The first time was in 2009, with the outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu pandemic. The second time was in May 2014, when polio seemed to surge again, threatening the eradication effort. The third time, in August 2014, came as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was growing out of control. And the fourth: In February 2016, the Zika outbreak across South and Central America was declared a PHEIC.
Ebola Outbreak in Congo in 2019
The decision by the World Health Organization to declare the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo an international emergency is intended to boost the world's response to the outbreak, which continues to spread almost a year after the first victims were identified. By then, the epidemic the second-biggest in history and the longest and deadliest of Congo's nine previous outbreaks. The pace of the epidemic: During the first eight months of the epidemic, until March 2019, more than 1,000 cases of Ebola were reported in the affected region. However, between April and June 2019, this number doubled, with a further 1,000 new cases reported in just those three months. Between early June and the beginning of August, the number of new cases notified per week was high, and averaged between 75 and 100 each week; since August 2019 this rate has been slowly declining. Just 70 cases were identified throughout all of October.
Biothreats
The idea that biological matter, such as a disease can be used intentionally as a weapon
Accumulated Heat Chart
The map shows surface temperatures in 2017 compared to the 1981-2010 average. Isolated below-average temperatures (blue) occurred in parts of the Pacific Ocean, the southern Atlantic Ocean, the eastern Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean south of Greenland. Some of those below-average temperatures were actually close to the 1981-2010 average. But across most of the globe, land and sea surface temperatures exceeded the 1981-2010 average (yellow to red), with especially warm conditions in the high latitudes of North America and Russia.
Drivers of Climate Change
The three main heat-trapping greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. In addition, aerosals, chlorofluorocarbons, but the most important is carbon dioxide. The main culprit of carbon combustion is primarily through the creation of energy by burning coal, gas and oil. The main culprits of methane and nitrous oxide releases are agricultural production and livestock rearing as well as fossil fuel usage.
Difficult international governance challenges from climate change
Time: because there is a lag between when emissions occur and when the effects of those emissions are likely to happen, the short-term pressure to take action is diffuse Geography: broadly, those who contribute to the problem are not necessarily those who will suffer the most. The most developed countries of the world are those that have contributed most. But most modeling suggests that the poorest countries and the poorest people within them are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. That means that the incentives to change fall the least hard on those who contribute the most to the problem Globality: greenhouse gases do not stay within national boundaries—problem requires global cooperation. If EU were, for example, to cut all carbon emission by 2060, climate change would not stop as long as other countries persisted with the status quo. For there to be any real traction on the issue, you need a global, concerted effort—and achieving a global consensus on action. Yet countries have very different perspectives on this issue. Countries that are rapidly developing do not want to be hamstrung, given that their competitors in the global marketplace did not have the same restrictions when they were developing. But countries that are developed are still competing in the global marketplace and do not want any new disadvantages. Powerful headwinds
Central Innovation
To bring all countries into a common set of obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Agreement was significant: in addition to reaffirming the goal of limiting the increase in global temperature to below 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C) and urging countries to further limit the rise to 2.7 degrees F (1.5 C) above preindustrial times, the accord was particularly noteworthy for getting countries to set national targets for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions Although there would be no penalties for failing to reach these targets, the agreement included provisions to enhance transparency as a means to encourage compliance name and shame For the first time, developing countries committed contributions to achieve these objectives; and developed countries reaffirmed their financial responsibilities To take effect, the agreement would require approval by at least 55 countries accounting for no less than 55% of global emissions In a major step forward, US and China affirmed their participation through a joint announcement in Sept 2016. Generate close to 40% of total emissions Crucial breakthrough: world's three greatest contributors to climate change—US, China and India—each of which was not part of Kyoto, signed and ratified the treaty. Fourth largest contributor, Russia, did not.
Global Health Security Agenda
Washington and its partners around the world resolved to make new investments in the international system, from supporting the development of Ebola vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics to strengthening the resilience of health-care systems in vulnerable countries. In September 2014, at the height of the crisis, Obama hosted senior officials from 44 countries in Washington to advance the Global Health Security Agenda, an initiative the administration had unveiled nine months earlier.
Biological weapons
Weapons of mass destruction along with nuclear and chemical weapons
What triggers a PHEIC alarm
an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response
Anthropogenic climate change
climate change that is the result of human activity
Humanitarian Biomedicine
efforts to improve health outcomes for people who have inadequate care or resources
IRH Treaty tasks
guides the declaration of public health emergencies of international concern; provides processes for public health, travel, and trade recommendations during a public health emergency; tasks WHO with coordinating an international response; allows WHO to utilize a multitude of sources to inform their actions; is supposed to prevent nations from taking non-evidence based actions as part of the response (such as closing borders); and requires information sharing and communication during a public health emergency. It also requires nations to develop core public health infrastructure so that they are able to rapidly detect, assess, and report a public health emergency, as well as mount an initial response. The IHR also explicitly speaks to the importance of respecting human rights and only curtailing travel and trade when absolutely necessary.
Emissions Trading
market-based system for incentivising countries to reduce their green-house gas emissions; a country below its target level can sell its credit to a country that has not met its target
Solar radiation management
measures that would reflect heat-causing light back into the atmosphere
Climate Change
natural and human induced variability in the climate
Carbon Dioxide removal
projects that would remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
Transborder pollution
such as acid rain, greenhouse gas emissions Its management—combating pollution of the Mediterranean Sea, for example—often requires local or regional collaboration among governments These issues also include population growth, decline of ocean fisheries, hazardous waste management, export and use of agricultural pesticides and toxic chemicals, the spread of human and animal diseases
International International Health Regulations (IRH)
the governing treaty for global preparedness and response to public health emergencies. The International Health Regulations, or IHR (2005), represent an agreement between 196 countries including all WHO Member States to work together for global health security. Through IHR, countries have agreed to build their capacities to detect, assess and report public health events. The World Health Organization plays the coordinating role in IHR and, together with its partners, helps countries to build capacities. IHR also includes specific measures at ports, airports and ground crossings to limit the spread of health risks to neighboring countries, and to prevent unwarranted travel and trade restrictions so that traffic and trade disruption is kept to a minimum. Creates critical global norms, yet it is not sufficiently resourced. Plays a critical role as global health situations unfold.
Issues in absence of enforcement mechanisms and US non-ratification
we see unprecedented levels of cooperation and agreement, but in the absence of enforcement mechanisms, and US non-ratification, progress is slow. Consensus notwithstanding, annual gatherings of government leaders and their representatives since the mid-1990s have accomplished little, as poor and developing countries resisted signing on to constraints that they feared would slow economic growth and in effect ask them to pay a price for a problem (climate change) that had mostly been created by the behavior of others, that is the wealthier, developed countries of North America, Europe and Asia. Wealthier countries, and the United States in particular, have been reluctant to sign on to binding pacts that they fear could slow economic growth, require major transfer of resources to either poorer countries or those most vulnerable to climate change, or both. In particular, attempts to set global ceilings, allocate national shares, or affix a price for carbon have been resisted.
Public Health
wide range of activities that are concerned with health in a community; questions of prevention, the conditions that favor health, and equality of access are key for public health. Community or population based
Addressing Environmental Challenges
´Increasing environmental awareness: emergence of interest groups/nongovernmental organizations, governments responded ´Increasing international focus ´1970s ´Environmental problems recognized as global issues ´Transborder pollution ´Elude the jurisdictions of any national government and pay no attention to matters of national sovereignty ´BUT, because there is no overarching political authority at the global level, the solutions to transborder and global environmental problems have to be sought through international cooperation ´Tragedy of the Commons ´occurs when individuals neglect the well-being of society (or the group) in the pursuit of personal gain ´Environmental problems fit the tragedy model ´International cooperation thus needed to prevent such tragedies ´ ´International cooperation needed to prevent such tragedies ´Assumption: global and transborder problems can be solved by goverance via international cooperation ´How we got to that assumption: ´By late 1990s, economic globalization: economic growth: growing threats to environment ´Environment problems increasingly perceived as national and international security threats ´In this century, focus in particular has been on climate change
Latest global data on sustainable development and public health
·Less than half the people in the world today get all of the health services they need. ·In 2010, almost 100 million people were pushed into extreme poverty because they had to pay for health services out of their own pockets. ·13 million people die every year before the age of 70 from cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes and cancer - most in low and middle-income countries. ·Every day in 2016, 15,000 children died before reaching their fifth birthday. Overcoming disease and ill health will require concerted and sustained efforts, focusing on population groups and regions that have been neglected.
