To address the health impacts of climate change – the greatest global health threat of the 21st century – national leadership and reform of governance are urgently needed.

This policy paper details the need for federal leadership and new Commonwealth laws to guide climate change mitigation and adaptation, with a focus on present and future threats to human health. As reflected in the World Health Organization (WHO) position of ‘Health in all Policies’  , human health and the environment are inextricably linked; not only is our health dependent on the health of ecological systems and the essential services they provide but also that environmental degradation has direct adverse consequences through exposure to pollutants and disease-causing agents. Consideration of health is therefore integral in any quest to reform environment laws.

Such laws would recognise that climate change is a national economic, health and security threat which merits statutory laws to guide implementation and governance.

Download DEA’s policy ‘Action on Climate Change and Health; Governance and Strategy’