Climate crisis now a global health crisis, UN warns

Farmers in Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro, show rice fields affected by the dry spell caused by the drying of rivers due to the El Niño phenomenon in this photo issued on February 25, 2024. Dennis Datu, ABS-CBN News/File
MANILA — From toxic pollution and extreme heat to climate-related disasters, the impacts of a rapidly changing climate are increasingly putting pressure on health systems and infrastructure around the world.

This was the warning issued by UN Climate Change and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on the opening day of the climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye.

At a press conference, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said the world is not only getting dangerously hot but is also becoming increasingly deadly for millions of people.

“The climate crisis is now a global health crisis of pandemic proportions. The impacts of rising heat on pregnancy, newborns and maternal health are another unfolding health disaster which has the fingerprints of the climate crisis all over it,” he said.

For countries like the Philippines, which faces some of the greatest risks from climate change, these warnings hit particularly close to home.

For 33-year-old Jezreel Bordeos, the threat is especially worrying as she prepares to give birth to her first child in a month’s time. Her baby’s first months of life — a critical period for development — will coincide with the expected peak of the so-called “Super El Niño”.

“Yung mga usong sakit, nakakatakot yun for newborn babies. Yung sipon, worst pa lagnatin. Nakakabahala na talaga yung sobrang init,” she said.

(The illnesses that are becoming common are frightening, especially for newborn babies. Even a simple cold, or worse, a fever. The extreme heat is really worrying.)

The concern comes as the 2026 WMO State of the Climate Update reports a series of broken climate records, with current greenhouse gas concentrations indicating that there is “no end in sight” to the warming trend.

The past 12 years have been the warmest on record, with the last four years, including 2026, ranking as the four warmest, according to the report.

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo warned that the developing ‘Super El Niño’ could push global temperatures even higher.

“The World Meteorological Organization declares an El Niño when the sea surface temperature is 0.5°C above average in the Tropical Pacific – the epicentre of El Niño. We forecast that it may be nearly four times that level between November 2026 and January 2027,” she said.

Beyond rising temperatures, El Niño is expected to intensify and shift health risks across different regions, depending on their climate conditions and prevailing seasons.

Among the major concerns are heat-related illnesses and deaths, exposure to wildfire smoke and poor air quality, malnutrition, food insecurity, and waterborne and vector-borne diseases.

“The greatest impacts are expected where these hazards intersect vulnerable populations, weak health systems, displacement and humanitarian crises,” the report said.

At COP31, climate experts and leaders are also pushing for the faster implementation of the Belém Health Action Plan (BHAP), launched in Brazil last year.

The plan aims to help countries build health systems that can better withstand and adapt to climate change. This includes strengthening health facilities, preparing contingency plans and ensuring that healthcare services remain accessible to communities during climate-related emergencies.

In the Philippines, lawmakers have also filed bills seeking to authorize the declaration of a “Super El Niño calamity“.

Such a declaration would allow the government to allocate funds for the repair and rehabilitation of public infrastructure and facilities, while providing financial assistance and loans to sectors expected to bear the brunt of the climate phenomenon.