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Features

An All-of-Society Approach

ere is now a very real danger that we might
well be reaching the endgame of the climate
crisis – an endgame which has been long
predicted, but which is still at least partially
avoidable. Just last June, the world set yet
another high mark for carbon dioxide concentration in the
atmosphere: 419 parts per million, higher than it has been in
20,000 years, according to the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. e United Kingdom, France,
and Germany, which have some of the oldest weather records,
all hit new high temperatures this summer and July was just
confirmed as the hottest month since records began. e poles
are melting. Antarctica, famed for its glaciers, and the world’s
coldest and most enigmatic continent, is losing ice due to
heating six times faster than it did 40 years ago, and in larger
chunks too. We have entered an era of flash floods, drought,
heat waves, wildfire damage, sea-level rise, coastal dissolution,
and permafrost thaw. Our region is a hotspot for many of
these planetary health problems.

And yet, despite all the warnings, even though climate change
HEALING our televisions and watch the news, we have done remarkably
impacts are visible all around us every evening as we turn on
little, as individuals, as nations, as corporations to respond.
PLANET EARTH Tan Sri Dr. Jemilah Mahmood, a Trustee of the Our leaders are not held to account by their electorates –
carbon neutrality by 2050 is simply 20 years too late. Instead,
we bury ourselves in Instagram’s delights or the latest that
Jeffrey Cheah Foundation, will lead the newly established
Sunway Centre for Planetary Health Netflix has to offer. We are alone and seemingly increasingly
powerless in a sea of connections.
Extraordinarily well-timed, the upcoming launch of the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health
aims to break down the silos between health, crises, and economy, and to issue and But are we? Dr. Jemilah believes in an all-of-government
S ince governments – through agreement on The Asian Green Wave health, wellbeing, and equity worldwide acknowledges the logical connection to mobilise and facilitate development of the moral, political
support an urgent clear and simple call for action on planetary health. Pioneering the application of the planetary In many ways, Sunway has already taken and all-of-society approach to climate risk. More than
engaging in international conversations that wax poetic about
health approach, which is the achievement
the first steps. Dr. Jemilah was attracted by
planetary health, she is passionate about getting on the ground
of the highest attainable standard of
the conglomerate’s ecological ethos which
and legislative power necessary to fundamentally transform
through judicious attention to political,
between the planet's health and our
the 2015 Paris climate accord – imposed a
the approach to addressing the climate change threats
health: no matter how technologically
economic and social systems is what Dr.
deadline for limiting temperature increase
that are now beating down our door. at means supporting
advanced we become there is no way
Jemilah hopes to catalyse for Malaysia
to below 1.5 degrees celsius, there has been
some movement in the right direction.
constructive interaction between the academics and
professional with extensive experience in
with Mother Earth – healthy planet,
Although if we continue at the current level
policy-making institutions. It means reaching beyond the
healthy people.
managing humanitarian crises and has
climate change,” said Tan Sri Dr. Jemilah Mahmood during her keynote
of effort, we will miss this 1.5-degree limit by almost “COVID-19 is a dress rehearsal for entrepreneurial engagement on and for this region. She is a medical to break the link in our relationship decision-making processes that broker and facilitate
usual crowd to the people who do not already speak the same
another 1.5 degrees by the end of this century. And so address at the JC3 Flagship Conference 2021 (#FinanceForChange) been a long-standing advocate for language, nor eat, sleep, and breathe planetary health values
Gretha unberg's words resonate strongly – our house IS organised by Bank Negara in June. “We are now very afraid of addressing the root drivers of crises; in e Sunway Centre for Planetary Health, and principles and informing them of their freedom to shape
medical terms treating the cause, rather
on fire. COVID-19’s health impacts and its economic consequences. While that which will be led by Dr. Jemilah, will be “a and determine the future of our planet. It means disrupting
is a valid concern, climate change – a longer lasting, human induced and more fundamental than the symptoms. For Dr. Jemilah, space for advancing knowledge about and harnessing the power of the internet for positive change.
But there is also some hope. We have seen proposals such as planetary disease - is already saddling us not just with debt, but with a lot of economic planetary health is a systematic way planetary health, translating academic
of joining up the dots and helping
the Green New Deal in the USA. Grassroot movements are consequences that are starting to disrupt our societies; something that will only increase if humanity identify potential solutions. discourse into accessible and actionable steps As Dr. Jemilah insists: “ is is a call for all of us.” It is time
increasingly emerging on campuses and in communities we continue as we are. As we try to flatten the curve of COVID-19, we also need to flatten But translating ambition into action at for humans to stop ignoring or, at best, lamenting the loss
around the globe like Fridays for Future, the school protest. the curve of our ecological footprint.” such a scale is a tall order. She is placing and concepts, facilitating learning and of earthly life – and this special blend of planetary destruction
More business leaders are beginning to see the necessity her bet on the newly established creating solutions with a broad range of we have brewed – from an emotional distance. Because the
to make urgent progress on environmental, social, and We have many reasons to be alarmed. Our region lies at the heart of Sunway Centre for Planetary Health. partners to achieve durable systemic change”. poor health of the planet can only recover in one of two ways
governance (ESG) issues as consumers start to look more planetary health. Our tropical geography and population density is the – with us, or without us. And the plans that the Centre for
carefully at how their purchases impact the planet. And ideal hotbed for infectious disease outbreaks. It is only a matter of time e Centre is a demonstration of Planetary Health are making to address such a challenge may
more broadly, citizens are starting to connect the dots until the next epidemic erupts in the cross-over between ourselves and Sunway’s commitment to sustainability offer the best chance we might ever get to win this one battle
between their choices and actions and the impact these are animals, forced to live in ever-closer proximity as our appetite for them and its expanding engagement on this that we cannot lose. As the Intergovernmental Panel on
having on their environment and, now ever more starkly, increases and their natural habitat is destroyed…by us. Changing global weather patterns, most important of topics. Climate Change report has told us very starkly - we are living
on the planet. driven by meteorological phenomena in our region, are already affecting our environment in an era of Code Red for Humanity. It’s past time to act.
and our social, economic and political systems and are also having the same or worse effects
across the planet.
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