May 31, 2023 - Scientists, Indigenous leaders, and medical experts, including neurologist and DEA member, Dr Carolyn Orr, have called for change to the WA government’s fire management practices, raising concerns about the harms ...
Our Work
Human health depends upon a healthy environment.
The current age of scientific innovation has meant humans have become a dominant influence in shaping the natural world. This has raised the stakes and meant an unprecedented capacity to degrade our natural environment.
While great progress has been made in improving human health, particular in Australia and other OECD countries, local and global environmental degradation now threaten those gains.
DEA urges governments to address the current and future impacts of environmental degradation on human health.
Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) is an organisation of doctors who recognise that human health and wellbeing require an environment:
- free of pollution
- capable of providing nutritious food
- rich in biodiversity
- able to provide for current and future generations sustainably.
Measuring what matters
May 31, 2023 - DEA welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Measuring what matters second consultation process. The proposed indicators show a welcome move away from narrow economic indicators such as GDP that ...
Nature Repair Market bill submission
May 31, 2023 - Doctors for the Environment welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Nature Repair Market bill which has important implications for the health and wellbeing of Australians, both now ...
Vehicle fuel efficiency standards for Australia
May 31, 2023 - Doctors for the Environment Australia applaud the proposal to introduce a Fuel Efficiency Standard and note that Australia’s vehicle standards are significantly behind every other developed country apart from Russia. ...
Media release: Victorian Government’s end to native forest logging is a win for the environment and for health
May 26, 2023 - Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) welcomes the Victorian Government’s decision to end native forest logging by January next year- six years ahead of schedule. Victorian DEA Chair Dr ...
Fact Sheet: Severe Storms, Floods and Your Health
May 8, 2023 - Floods and severe storms are harmful to our health. Extreme weather is becoming more common with climate change, and is demanding and costly to individuals, communities and health systems. This ...
MJAInsight: Doctors must ‘step up’ to confront climate crisis
May 1, 2023 - When the Australian Parliament recently passed the Safeguard Mechanism- the country’s most significant carbon emissions reduction legislation in over a decade- where was the health voice in the debate? DEA’s ...
MJA: Why losing Australia’s biodiversity matters for human health- insights from the latest State of the Environment assessment
April 17, 2023 - Only with a healthy planet can we ensure healthy people. Yet while there is increasing understanding about the effects of climate change on our environment and our health, much less ...
Pearls & Irritations: Do universities with medical schools fail on fossil fuels?
March 29, 2023 - Universities have expertise in research and teaching in areas that are relevant to understanding global warming: geology, physics, mathematics, biology, oceanography, engineering, and atmospheric physics. Furthermore, those universities with medical ...
Chats for Change with WWF-Australia – Can Trees Save Us?
March 10, 2023 - DEA’s Dr Kim Loo joins Olympic swimming champion, Bronte Campbell, and WWF’s resident tree expert, Dr Stuart Blanch to explore why trees are crucial for our health in the first ...
DEA goes to Canberra
March 8, 2023 - As trusted voices, doctors and others in the health sector, who are on the frontline of care, have a role in influencing policy in decarbonisation: The health of our patients, ...
‘Difference between life and death’: Doctors sound alarm on western Sydney’s lack of trees
March 6, 2023 - A group of doctors has issued a dire health warning about the lack of trees Western Sydney reports 9News. Doctors for the Environment Australia member Dr Cybele Dey said “People ...
Launch of joint DEA and WWF-A report: Trees. The forgotten heroes for our health
March 6, 2023 - Dr Cybele Dey, Dr Stuart Blanch, and Dr Kim Loo have launched a joint DEA/WWF-Australia report on the health benefits of trees. We all need trees. They’re not only magnificent, ...
Singleton Horticulture Project submission
February 20, 2023 - While we await the finding of the Supreme Court into the legality of the water licence, we have here outlined a range of other critical environmental, social and health issues ...
AMA and DEA joint submission to the ACSQHC –Sustainable Healthcare Module
February 14, 2023 - The AMA and DEA recommend that the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality of Health Care (ACSQHC) consult with the Department of Health and Aged Care’s National Health Sustainability and ...
Washington Post: Long-term exposure to pollution linked to depression, study finds
February 6, 2023 - Potential links between pollution and mental health are a serious issue, said Dr Cybele Dey, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and member of Doctors for the Environment Australia, in the ...
Daily Telegraph: Mapped- Australia’s looming heatwave problem
December 19, 2022 - Australian heatwaves are set to be more severe, with massive implications for work, sport and health. According to the data from Monash University’s 360 info team, the trend will be ...
Croakey: COP27 – a missed opportunity for Australian health ministers and departments to lead on climate action
December 16, 2022 - The recent COP27 meeting was an important opportunity to advance health and climate policy discussions. However, Australian health and medical leaders have expressed disbelief at the silence from Australia’s health ...
NewsGP: The overlooked health hazard lurking in many homes by Dr Ben Ewald
December 9, 2022 - For a child with asthma who lives in a home with a gas stove, 30% of their risk of asthma is from stove exposure, writes Dr Ben Ewald. The evidence ...
Dr Ying Gu for Women’s Agenda: Climate change has women’s health consequences that must be addressed
November 29, 2022 - We know about the impact of climate change on our environment, but what about on fertility and pregnancy? Climate change, fertility and pregnancy are not typically discussed together, however, obstetrician ...