Taking action to promote disability inclusion in climate and health
Civil society, including Organisations of Persons with Disabilities, has a critical role to play in action on climate change and health at all levels, including holding power holders to account on their legal obligations and commitments, promoting disability inclusion and a rights-based approach among wider health and climate change actors, and advising on disability inclusive climate and health approaches.
To support this work, IDDC has developed the briefing, Promoting health equity for persons with disabilities within action on climate change and health, as an advocacy resources for engaging governments and other actors on this agenda.
We are also sharing, below, examples of actions civil society and Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) can take to engage diverse stakeholders in promoting health equity for persons with disabilities in action on climate change and health.
Governments
- Contact your Ministry of Health to ask about their plans for developing or reviewing a National Health Adaptation Plan or other national action plan on climate and health, in line with WHO’s Global Plan of Action on Health, asking how you can engage with the process to ensure the needs and rights of persons with disabilities are mainstreamed within action.
- Contact your government to ask how health is integrated into national climate adaptation plans and what mechanisms are in place to support the meaningful participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organisations in related processes.
- Provide short disability‑inclusion briefings for officials leading the revision of National Adaptation Plans, Health National Adaptation Plans or disaster preparedness plans, and input to government consultations on draft plans.
- Participate in pre‑existing multi‑stakeholder consultation platforms (e.g., national climate councils, health-climate working groups, disability councils) and request reasonable accommodation funding or accessible formats to ensure OPD participation.
- Submit written inputs to civil society ‘shadow’ Voluntary National Review and independent / CSO assessments of climate-health adaptation progress, highlighting gaps and disability inclusion priorities within current policy frameworks.
WHO and other UN agencies
- Collaborate in briefing materials, statements or side-events linked to Conference of State Parties, the World Health Assembly, or the United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction Global Platform, presenting OPD‑led insights and key messages.
- Join existing UN‑led thematic groups at global, regional or country level to advocate for embedding accessibility requirements, disability indicators, and inclusive consultation processes (e.g., engaging in WHO civil society dialogues, UNFCCC ‘Action for Climate Empowerment’ (ACE) activities, Sendai Stakeholder Engagement Mechanism (SEM), The Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH) etc.
Donors
- Provide short policy notes to donors on how disability inclusion aligns with existing funding priorities (resilience, health systems strengthening, locally led adaptation), encouraging disability mainstreaming and integration.
- Participate in donor consultations on relevant policies, strategies and programme review and development to share evidence on disability‑inclusive adaptation and propose practical funding criteria to ensure the inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities.
Academics and research organisations
- Partner with research institutions and research communities working on One Health and Planetary Health to integrate disability variables in ongoing climate‑health studies, surveillance systems, and community risk assessments, aligning with WHO’s Action Area 2 on evidence and monitoring.
- Advocate for inclusion of persons with disabilities in existing research priority‑setting exercises, ensuring intersectional risks are addressed.
- Co‑develop policy‑oriented briefs translating research findings into practical recommendations for ministries and donors working within current climate-health frameworks.
Wider civil society organisations
- Build coalitions within existing civil society platforms (e.g., national climate alliances, UHC coalitions, DRR networks) to integrate disability messages into joint advocacy and position papers.
- Provide short training or “accessibility checklists” for organisations preparing health or climate programme proposals, aligned with the Sendai Framework, COP28 UAE Declaration, and BHAP.
- Co‑organise events or community outreach with mainstream civil society networks or organisations (e.g., heatwave preparedness campaigns, NCD awareness weeks) to ensure accessible communication and inclusive participation.
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