In July 2022, the United Nations General Assembly declared that everyone in the world has the right to a healthy environment, a very important step to fight against the deterioration of nature.
This declaration is given in the line of work of international environmental law, very necessary to guarantee that human beings can breathe clean air, have a more stable climate and that the biodiversity that surrounds us does not disappear.
Living in environments with high levels of traffic harms our health.
The World Health Organization, known as the WHO, defines various risk factors in which the environment can influence our health. These factors are not foreign to us and are: air pollution, sanitary conditions of water and sanitation, exposure to chemical and biological agents, ultraviolet radiation, environmental noise, agricultural practices such as the use of chemical substances against pests and the use of contaminated water or what is common to most people, living in urbanized environments with high levels of traffic.
The air we breathe directly into our lungs is one of the elements that can most influence our health and the data is overwhelming.
Every year there are more people with respiratory diseases.
According to the European Environment Agency, there are 25,500 premature deaths a year in Spain related to poor air quality. Likewise, the World Health Organization provides studies that link pollution with 36% of cancers, 34% of strokes and 27% of heart attacks. We also have to take into account the increase in asthma, bronchitis or allergies in relation to poor air quality.
2050 European goal Zero Pollution.
Faced with these figures, we have not sat idly by. The European Union is moving forward in establishing stricter air quality controls, setting new requirements so that by 2030 the particles that are most harmful to health will decrease. One more step towards a horizon of zero pollution, the EU proposes that it be in 2050.
To this we must add the loss of biodiversity. You will have heard on more than one occasion that in the past a squirrel could cross Spain from tree to tree, a situation that is now unthinkable. Entire species of animals in danger of extinction or the difficulties that the agriculture sector faces in being able to carry out harvests with heavy rains, heat waves, pests or droughts.
In short, biodiversity. In many ancient cultures they called it the pachamama, it not only provides us with food, but also the natural compounds that laboratories use to make our medicines and cure numerous diseases.
Biodiversity helps us build the new green economy or bioeconomy, which we need to wean ourselves from fossil fuels.
It provides us with such essential materials as wood and paper, wool or cotton. It helps us purify the air, purify our water, controls erosion, maintains soil fertility, controls pests and facilitates pollination, which is essential in agriculture. But also for the maintenance of nature itself. We could write an entire newspaper about the importance of pollination, bees and our livelihood.
And also, no less important, nature helps us preserve mental health, since we need direct contact with natural spaces to keep our emotional health in balance.
For all this, we will not tire of insisting on how important it is to leave behind practices that exploit the natural environment or that degrade and render soil unusable for years, and there are better alternatives.
When we talk about a more sustainable, more circular economy that respects nature and people’s health, we are actually talking about an economy that allows us to live better.
We have suffered firsthand the effects of the Climate Crisis, with heat waves, lack of rain, spread of infectious diseases and this is not only said by politicians, it is said by all health organizations.
According to data from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, last year 2022 more than 11,000 people died due to heat in Spain. The greatest risk affects very old people, those with fragile health, and those with fewer resources to adapt to rising temperatures.
On the other hand, the appearance of new diseases such as COVID 19 is related to the displacement of the geographical distribution of species due to climate change. and the viruses they carry manage to get close to humans or jump to other species.
The fight against the climate emergency in which we find ourselves is also a fight to protect our health in that concept of global health that we must not forget, in which people and the environment live and are interconnected worldwide.
The fight against the climate emergency is also the fight to protect our health.
But, after all this analysis that is so real that it seems apocalyptic, what can we do? We can do many things and we are doing them.
From the local level, many proposals are being proposed in Getafe. Some have already been drafted, such as the Tree Plan for the improvement and increase of tree mass, crucial for addressing both heat waves and torrential rains.
Also the Biodiversity Strategy that allows care and conservation. The Agroecological Plan that allows quality local food to be produced and raise awareness about kilometer 0 consumption and food sovereignty.
The Action Plan Against Noise and the Getafe Strategic Noise Map are being fully addressed, to avoid its impact on health. And of course the famous Low Emissions Zone, which calms traffic and, as we have seen in this article, allows us to breathe cleaner air.
Breathe clean air, but not only in areas where low emissions are implemented. The Air Quality Plan is in the process of being drafted, which will allow us to make Getafe a place where you can breathe clean air. And also the Action Plan for Climate and Sustainable Energy, to fight the climate emergency.
The drafting of the Water Plan will also be carried out in the coming months, which will focus on safeguarding and efficiently consuming this precious resource.
There are many other actions that can be carried out individually, but the most important thing is everything we can do collectively, to ensure an even greener, more sustainable present and future that takes care of our health and that of the environment. .
There can be no life on a dead planet. Therefore, our commitment to health and environmental care must be a priority. Also in the development of municipal policies in our territory. Our lives are in it.
Jesus Perez
Councilor for the Environment and Ecological Transition