Julia Steinberger “Don’t sit back and read and think and wait for to have achieved the perfect theory to develop the perfect strategy for action: Get out there. Interfere. Talk to people. Try like all heck to change bits and bobs of the systems that surround you. As you’ll try, you’ll learn, and as you’ll learn, your chances of success will expand extraordinarily”. 
(Retrieved by: https://jksteinberger.medium.com/individuals-and-social-pressure-how-to-change-the-world-8304ada3bbca )

Purpose

This Working Group (WG) of the Be-cause health (BCH) platform emerges from the lessons learnt from the “Climate Justice and Health Equity Conference” held in 2021, one of the first events in Belgium to call upon a diversity of stakeholders for sharing experiences and building knowledge on the topic.
Due to the complexity and relevance of the climate crisis and environmental degradation impact on health at global and local levels, transdisciplinary networks are a fruitful mechanism for understanding and tackling the multiple effects of such web of phenomena.

The climate and health nexus has gained track in global health. In parallel to the integration of climate and health into global health policies, research is growing with educational offers to a climate-aware health workforce. If the emergent field of planetary health is moving fast, the Be-Cause health working group too, together we can better advocating, sharing more resources and information, and engaging in research, education, and programmes.

The WG aims to facilitate listening to indigenous representatives, the youth movement, and the disability-inclusion community. We need even more diverse voices to enrich the planetary health knowledge from a ‘decolonizing global health’ perspective.

“Climate crisis is a health crisis” is now a evidence-based statement and a worrying concern. Tackling such complex issue could be done only via transdisciplinary international groups. Be-cause health is a flexible space for convening the planetary health working group and contributing to better understanding, information, and action on climate and health in polycrisis and syndemic times.

The ultimate goal of the WG is contributing to climate justice and health equity. In line with the Be-cause health principles of social protection and equitable access to good quality responsive health services for all, and strong, resilient and sustainable health systems, this WG aims to create a space for technical exchange and to facilitate joint initiatives.

In terms of ambitions, this WG wishes to be positioned as the central Belgian climate and health network, promoting meaningful participation of a diverse range of stakeholders from Low and Middle Income Countries and underrepresented and marginalised voices.

Topics / sub-topics

Due to the complexity of the links between climate crisis and health and the transdisciplinary nature of an emerging field of knowledge that makes boundaries between concepts quite blurred, it is not possible to define an exhaustive list of topics to be covered. Instead, we propose a cloud tag of main topics on the table of this WG. More details on topics and their interrelations and relevance for this WG will appear in the papers or guidelines that the WG will produce.

Principles

In addition to upholding human rights and professionalism, the WG highlights the following values that actively drive the work of the WG. This does not in any way seek to substitute the ethical chart or commitment of BCH. It rather recognises that respecting and implementing these requires concrete actions. The WG aims to promote Inclusion, Transparency, Decoloniality, Justice, Equity, and Gender Equality.

For more information on concrete objectives and actions, membership and functioning of the Working group, please consult the WG Planetary health ToR.