Statement to Davos Summit on Australian Bushfires, Health and Climate Change

A statement by the Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA) and Global Health and Climate Alliance (GCHA) addressed to the World Economic Forum in Davos, calling for urgent Australian government action on climate change following the devastating bushfires in South East Australia.

• The bushfires in South East Australia resulted in at least 28 human deaths, the destruction of over 2,000 homes, and the death of an estimated 1.2 billion animals.
• Air pollution from the fires created a public health emergency, with air quality in state and federal capital cities—Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Canberra—exceeding "hazardous" levels by a factor of 10 on several occasions.
• In New South Wales, the first week of December saw a roughly 25% increase in hospital emergency department presentations for respiratory problems and a 30% increase in ambulance callouts compared to the usual weekly average.
• The CAHA and GCHA urge the Australian government to recognize the climate emergency, integrate public health into revised national carbon budgets (NDCs), and develop emergency plans for more intense bushfire seasons informed by indigenous land management.
• The UK's Met Office Hadley Centre warns that these bushfires will become the "new normal" if climate change continues unabated, leading to a 3 degrees temperature increase.

APA

Colasimone, L. (2020). Statement to Davos Summit on Australian Bushfires, Health and Climate Change. Global Climate and Health Alliance. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/news/statement-to-davos-summit-on-australian-bushfires-health-climate-change/

Chicago

Colasimone, Luisa. Statement to Davos Summit on Australian Bushfires, Health and Climate Change. Global Climate and Health Alliance, 2020. https://climateandhealthalliance.org/news/statement-to-davos-summit-on-australian-bushfires-health-climate-change/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Colasimone |first1=Luisa |title=Statement to Davos Summit on Australian Bushfires, Health and Climate Change |publisher=Global Climate and Health Alliance |date=22 January 2020 |url=https://climateandhealthalliance.org/news/statement-to-davos-summit-on-australian-bushfires-health-climate-change/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{colasimone2020statement, author = {Colasimone, Luisa}, title = {{Statement to Davos Summit on Australian Bushfires, Health and Climate Change}}, publisher = {Global Climate and Health Alliance}, year = {2020}, month = jan, url = {https://climateandhealthalliance.org/news/statement-to-davos-summit-on-australian-bushfires-health-climate-change/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }