7. Shared vulnerabilities? Connecting climate and health in cities

Make Change Happen

Cities and towns are hugely impacted by both climate change and public health crises. This combined (and intertwined) threat weighs heaviest on the poorest urban communities. Health and climate specialists are already working hard on reducing urban risk and increasing resilience, but what has COVID-19 shown us about how these experts could learn from each other, and how they could work better with knowledgeable local actors? Hosted by Anna Walnycki, senior researcher in the Human Settlements group of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the discussion features principal researcher Aditya Bahadur, climate change researcher Sarah McIvor, both also of IIED; and Annie Wilkinson, an anthropologist and health systems researcher at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). This episode also includes valuable reflections from climate change researcher Anmol Aurora, based in India, and Dr Joseph M. Macarthy, executive director of the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre (SLURC), who joins the conversation from Freetown. In this episode of ‘Make Change Happen’, the guests discuss the similarities between public health crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impacts of climate change on urban settings in the global South. One significant element in common: both have devastating human consequences. More information: https://www.iied.org/shared-vulnerabilities-connecting-climate-health-cities-make-change-happen-podcast-episode-7 You can follow some of the people you have heard in this episode on Twitter via @AnnaWalnycki, @adibahadur, @wordsbyanmol and @ALSWilkinson. Follow the podcast on @IIED_Voices for all the latest updates.