WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Pregnancy and childbirth have become a 'new fault line in the global climate crisis' as extreme heat worsens, the head of the UN climate action body has warned, and called for maternal and newborn health to be built into countries' climate plans.
Speaking in Fiji at an event organized by global charitable foundation Wellcome, ahead of the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, UNFCC chief Simon Stiell said a deep test of climate action was far simpler than degrees, targets and finance: 'whether we protect life at its most fragile.'
'Rising temperatures mean rising danger in pregnancy,' he told first day of the pre-COP ministerial meeting, noting that extreme heat during pregnancy is increasingly linked to premature birth, stillbirth, low birth weight, and maternal complications.
Stiell cited new data, released from a survey of maternal health professionals in five countries across five continents, commissioned by Wellcome.
Some 73 per cent reported that heat-linked cases or complications had increased over the past five years, while 81 percent were concerned or very concerned that extreme heat would increasingly put maternal, foetal and newborn health at risk without more action.
Nearly all respondents had cared for a pregnant woman or baby whose health they considered had been affected by extreme heat.
'Behind those numbers are human stories: an expectant mother's journey to clinic delayed by dangerous heat; a midwife working through unsafe temperatures; a newborn needing specialist care,' Stiell said.
'A safe birth is already too often shaped by geography, income and access to care. Without action, extreme heat will widen that injustice.'
He called for the tripling of adaptation finance agreed at COP30 in Belém to be delivered and for nations to work with the whole financial system to make $1.3 trillion a year for developing countries a reality.
He commended the COP31 Presidency of Türkey and Australia's President of Negotiations for making health a key priority, building on Brazil's work last year.
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