![A screenshot of WHO's live webcast of the treaty negotiations](/content/images/size/w1304/2023/03/pandemic-treaty-negotations.jpg)
Nations work to update draft of WHO's proposed pandemic treaty
The treaty takes aim at the huge inequalities in health care and access to products such as vaccines, therapeutics and tests that the COVID-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus.
Melting glaciers. Rising sea levels. Wildfires. Food shortages. Mass coral reef deaths and widespread species extinctions. Global pandemics. Every other issue is secondary. In a world of climate change, direct impacts on humanity are evident where we live and work and on the health and well-being of many populations. Climate change is a truly global issue; fighting it demands global cooperation and financing through summits, known as COPs, and landmark treaties like the Paris Agreement.
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The treaty takes aim at the huge inequalities in health care and access to products such as vaccines, therapeutics and tests that the COVID-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus.
The U.N. health agency says it updated its plans based on China's response but there's been "no quiet shelving of any plans" for investigating how the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The tiny island nation made the case that more attention must be focused on the threat of rising sea levels and gaps in international law about how to handle the loss of land.
Fed by pollution and climate change, strains of bacteria immune to all known antibiotics may become a major cause of death by mid-century, says the U.N. environment agency.
Chief among the questions over a proposed pandemic treaty is an "accountability gap" that undermines the proposed treaty's potential, an independent coalition of global leaders said.
The rationale for the World Health Organization's proposed pandemic treaty is to erase the "gross inequities" between rich and poor that's been a scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
World Health Organization leaders agree COVID-19 remains an emergency but the pandemic may be approaching "an inflection point" of higher immunity resulting in fewer deaths.
As recently as May almost half of WHO's 194 member nations said they "still lacked essential elements of preparedness for radiation emergencies," according to senior agency officials.
Despite the temptation to end the pandemic, some leading health experts say it would be better to continue living with the official designation, which keeps up the pressure on authorities and civilians alike to act with caution.
The new U.N. report blamed the “5F” crisis – a combined lack of feed, fertilizer, financing, food and fuel – for the growing hunger, lack of nutrition and associated medical issues in the region due to conflicts, climate and other factors.
The mounting frustration and anger over inaction on climate change is compounded by outrage over the many rising inequalities around the world between rich and poor.
An analysis shows the number of private jet flights to and from airports serving Davos during the 2022 meeting caused CO2 emissions equivalent to about 350,000 average cars.
Along with overseeing one of the world's biggest oil companies, Sultan Al Jaber is the UAE's minister of industry and advanced technology and chief executive of renewable energy company Masdar, based in Abu Dhabi.
Trapped sediment robs dams of storage capacity. Storage loss by 2050 will equal the combined yearly water use of Canada, China, France, India and Indonesia, says a U.N. University report.
If the policies and trends continue the ozone layer is expected to recover to 1980 values – before the appearance of the ozone hole – by around 2066 over the Antarctic, and by 2045 over the Arctic and 2040 for the rest of the world.
WHO is seeking more information from Beijing about the COVID-19 surge in China while many nations impose travel restrictions. The E.U. is offering China free vaccinations.