A shared language will promote climate change and health research and underpin a sustainable future
Climate change requires collective action across many government, non‐government and private sectors.1 The development of a shared terminology to conduct, share and use research will be critical to the effective communication and collaboration needed to achieve this collective action.2 At the same time, climate change mitigation and adaptation is an exponentially growing field of multidisciplinary research and practice, augmenting the scale of the challenge.3,4 It will be vital that this cross‐disciplinary research effort is supported, but currently, there is poor alignment in the use of relevant terms across different research and policy fields, with little standardisation of terminology in the national and international literature.
The full article is accessible to AMA members and paid subscribers. Login to read more or purchase a subscription now.
Please note: institutional and Research4Life access to the MJA is now provided through Wiley Online Library.
- 1. World Health Organization. COP24 special report: health and climate change. WHO, 2019. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/cop24-special-report-health-climate-change (viewed June 2020).
- 2. Thomas J, McDonagh D. Shared language: towards more effective communication. Australas Med J 2013; 6: 46–54. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3575066/ (viewed June 2021).
- 3. Zhang Y, Beggs PJ, McGushin A, et al. The 2020 special report of the MJA–Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: lessons learnt from Australia’s “Black Summer”. Med J Aust 2020; 213: 492. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2020/213/11/2020-special-report-mja-lancet-countdown-health-and-climate-change-lessons
- 4. Beggs PJ, Zhang Y, Bambrick H, et al. The 2019 report of the MJA–Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: a turbulent year with mixed progress. Med J Aust 2019; 211: 490–491. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2019/211/11/2019-report-mja-lancet-countdown-health-and-climate-change-turbulent-year-mixed
- 5. Buse CG, Oestreicher JS, Ellis NR, et al. Public health guide to field developments linking ecosystems, environments and health in the Anthropocene. J Epidemiol Community Health 2018; 72: 420–425.
- 6. Buse CG, Patrick R. Climate change glossary for public health practice: from vulnerability to climate justice. J Epidemiol Community Health 2020; 74: 867–871.
- 7. IPCC; Matthews R, editor. Annex I: glossary. In: Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre‐industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. IPCC, 2018. https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/glossary/ (viewed June 2020).
- 8. World Health Organization. Climate change and human health — risk and responses: glossary. WHO, 2003. https://www.who.int/globalchange/environment/en/glossary.pdf (viewed June 2020).
- 9. Zhang Y, Barratt A, Rychetnik L, Breth‐Petersen M. An Australian glossary on health and climate change. Prepared for: the Human Health and Social Impacts (HHSI) Node, the NSW Adaptation Hub. 2021. https://www.sydney.edu.au/content/dam/corporate/documents/faculty-of-medicine-and-health/research/centres-institutes-groups/sustainability,-climate-and-health-collaboration/australian-glossary-on-health-and-climate-change.pdf (viewed May 2021).
- 10. National Health and Medical Research Council. NHMRC special initiative in human health and environmental change. NHMRC, 2020. https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/funding/find-funding/nhmrc-special-initiative-human-health-and-environmental-change (viewed June 2020).
- 11. United Nations. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. UN, 1992. https://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/background_publications_htmlpdf/application/pdf/conveng.pdf (viewed June 2020).
- 12. Australian Medical Association. AMA formally recognises climate change as a health emergency [media release]. 3 Sept 2019. https://ama.com.au/sites/default/files/documents/030919_AMA_Calls_Climate_Change_A_Health_Emergency_1.pdf (viewed June 2020).
- 13. Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Leading medical group declares public health emergency and calls for national strategy to tackle climate change [media release]. 21 Nov 2019. https://www.racp.edu.au/news-and-events/media-releases/leading-medical-group-declares-public-health-emergency-and-calls-for-national-strategy-to-tackle-climate-change (viewed July 2020).
- 14. Scholsberg D, Colins LB. From environmental to climate justice: climate change and the discourse of environmental justice. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Change 2014; 5: 359–374.
- 15. Australian Council of Trade Unions. Policy — social and economic justice: climate change and transition. ACTU, 2018. https://www.actu.org.au/media/1033980/climate-energy-and-just-transition.pdf (viewed Aug 2020).
- 16. Stockholm Environment Institute. A just transition to renewables must recognise the rights of Indigenous peoples. SEI, 2019. https://www.sei.org/perspectives/a-just-transition-to-renewables-must-recognize-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples/ (viewed June 2020).
- 17. Albrecht G, Sartore G‐M, Connor L, et al. Solastalgia: the distress caused by environmental change. Australas Psychiatry 2007; 15 (Suppl): S95–S98.
- 18. Monash Sustainable Development Institute. Caring for Country: an urban application. The possibilities for Melbourne. 2016. https://nespurban.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/CaringforCountryReport_Apr2016.pdf (viewed July 2020).
- 19. Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation. What is cultural burning? https://www.firesticks.org.au/about/cultural-burning (viewed July 2020).
- 20. Hughes L, Hanna E, Fenwick J. The silent killer: climate change and the health impacts of extreme heat. Climate Council of Australia, 2016. https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/uploads/b6cd8665c633434e8d02910eee3ca87c.pdf (viewed June 2020).
- 21. Bureau of Meteorology. Indigenous weather knowledge. BOM, 2015. http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/culture.shtml (viewed July 2020).
- 22. UNESCO. Local and Indigenous knowledge systems [website]. UNESCO, 2018. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/priority-areas/links/related-information/what-is-local-and-indigenous-knowledge (viewed June 2020).
- 23. ACT Council of Social Services. Gulanga program. Preferences in terminology when referring to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples. ACTCOSS, 2016. https://www.actcoss.org.au/sites/default/files/public/publications/gulanga-good-practice-guide-preferences-terminology-referring-to-aboriginal-torres-strait-islander-peoples.pdf (viewed July 2020).
This project has been supported by the New South Wales Government Department of Planning, Industry and Environment. The funding agency did not play any role in the study and publication, except for providing financial support. We thank the contribution from the project advisors: Fiona Armstrong, Executive Director, Climate and Health Alliance; Paul Beggs, Co‐chair, MJA–Lancet Countdown, Macquarie University; Sinead Boylan, University of Sydney, Human Health and Social Impacts (HHSI) node coordinator; Neil Hime, Senior Policy Analyst, Environmental Health Branch, Health Protection NSW; Lee Huuskes, Senior Scientist, Social Research, NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment; Lynne Madden, University of Notre Dame Australia; and Geoffrey Morgan, University of Sydney, HHSI node lead. We also thank all the stakeholder engagement process participants who contributed to the online survey, the online workshop and the project discussion paper.
No relevant disclosures.