CONNECTED recently had the opportunity to contribute to a key paper which will be launched at COP27 in Egypt this November. We were pleased to play our part in getting plant health onto the agenda and it was a great learning process for us being involved in the paper consultation in the run-up to this international event.

The policy working paper Addressing Climate Change Impacts on Health has already been shared at a policy event in Cairo, hosted by Egypt’s Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) and British Council Egypt, and will be formally launched at COP27 on 10^th November. Produced by the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology in Egypt, with contributions from the UK Universities Climate Network, this paper will help influence policy on climate change in relation to health.  

Climate change affects the distribution of insect vectors as well as many other aspects of crop disease, so a briefing on its impact on human health would not be complete without reference to plants. CONNECTED Network Manager Dr Nina Ockendon-Powell offered some contributions and examples to highlight this.

“Climate change also alters the distribution and abundance of plant disease vectors, including important agricultural pests such as whiteflies and aphids by influencing their phenology, migration, number of generations per year and overwintering strategies…”

This was also the first time the Egyptian academic community have published a policy paper in this form, so we are really pleased to have been able to participate in that capacity-building.