03/11/2025
💚 DAY 1 of ' ' - Regional Cooperation & Capacity Building! 🌏 Sotiris Vardoulakis, HEAL National Research Network's Director reflects on an incredible first day of the 5th International Conference funded by National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), on:
• Nuclear legacy to climate resilience in the Asia-Pacific – cascading environmental & health crises.
• Smoke haze from wildfires (forest, peat, agricultural fires) being a major source of air pollution and an increasing public health threat in Southeast Asia.
• Priority population groups: Children, pregnant women, the elderly, and Indigenous and ethnic communities, who are particularly vulnerable.
• Indigenous, Ethnic & Local (‘Hill’) Peoples, traditional knowledges, lived experience, artwork, and story telling.
• Affordable technologies- Low-cost sensors, atmospheric models, early warning systems, air purifiers, clean air rooms, urban greening.
• Regional cooperation, knowledge exchange, awareness raising, community engagement, open-source data, and capacity building for citizens/scientists are all essential.
• Weave together diverse knowledge systems to communicate impacts and develop open-source solutions.
• Just transition to clean energy transition is not only about emission targets, it’s about equity, social justice, and reimaging technology.
• Health should be a foundational consideration in clean energy transition, not just a co-benefit.
🙏 Thank you so much to our inspirational, thought-provoking 'Global South' speakers!!
