From Public Health to Al Gore and EcoCities

Bulletins, Conferences, Media bulletins

congressThe World Congress on Public Health wraps up in Melbourne today with resolutions and demands for action on public health and on chemical weapons. More below.

But wait there’s more…EcoCities. In July Al Gore will be one of dozens of international speakers at the Ecocity World Summit.

What’s an EcoCity? Why do we want to be one? Can I speak with Al? These and other questions will be answered…

This Monday evening at a briefing on the Summit at 5.30 pm Monday 10 April at the Dulux Gallery, Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne.

More details below. 

 

Demand for Action on World Health Day

 

  •    On public health
  •    On chemical weapons
  •    And a call to Rome in 2020

Today, at the final day of the 15th World Congress on Public Health, delegates from over 83 countries carried by acclamation two Demands for Action.

Demanding that the World’s leaders make the public’s health a priority

  • Improving health outcomes for all
  • Fighting inequity as the primary driver of poor health
  • with political, social, environmental, and economic change across all sectors for better and more sustainable health.

The full text of the Demand is at http://www.wcph2017.com/d/WCPH2017-Melbourne-Demand-for-Action.pdf

Demanding action on weapons of mass destruction.

Today on World Health Day, The World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) and the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) strongly condemn this week’s gas attack atrocity in Syria, and call for the immediate and total abolition of the use of chemical warfare in violent conflict.

3,000 international delegates gathered this week in Melbourne at the 15th World Congress on Public Health 2017 to discuss public health issues, during which the appalling attacks in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun occurred killing more than 70 civilians, including a number of children.

The suspected chemical used was sarin gas, a potent nerve agent which is undetectable to victims and severely disrupts the nervous system resulting in eye irritation, vomiting, breathing problems, convulsions and potential death, and is therefore classified as a weapon of mass destruction.

Michael Moore, President of WFPHA and CEO of PHAA said, “It is critical that a complete ban on the use of these chemical weapons during violent conflict is enforced in order to prevent further atrocities of this nature from occurring in Syria and other countries”.

“These weapons have the capacity to kill scores of people in a very short amount of time, and they must be prevented at all costs”, Mr Moore said.

The use of chemical weapons in armed conflict is a severe threat to the health and human rights of victims, and is in direct contravention of international treaties prohibiting their use, including the 1925 Geneva Protocol.

The World Congress on Public Health 2017 concludes in Melbourne today, and involved sessions on global security, the use of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and their impact on public health.

The next Congress will be held in Rome in 2020.

 

EcoCity briefing

We are delighted to invite you to

The Ecocity World Summit Program Launch

When: 5.30 pm Monday 10 April

Where: Dulux Gallery, Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne

Please find your formal invitation attached. Enjoy light refreshments, a special performance by Simon Kerr with excerpts from Music for a Warming World, while mingling and hearing from our presenters.

The Ecocity Summit Program Launch, will commence with a welcome by Prof. Julie Willis, Dean, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne. Following this, Arron Wood, Deputy Lord Mayor, City of Melbourne, will chair a feature that will provide further details of the Summit’s program as well as brief presentations on Ecocity challenges and solutions from:

  • Prof. John Wiseman, Deputy Director, Melbourne Sustainability Society Institute, University of Melbourne
  • Stan Krpan, CEO, Sustainability Victoria
  • Seona Candy, Research Fellow, Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne
  • Crystal Legacy, Senior Research Fellow, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University

RSVP: Friday 7 April via the eventbrite link: https://ecocityprogramlaunch.eventbrite.com.au

Further Details about the Summit 

The Ecocity World Summit program, to be held 12-14 July 2017, will bring together an outstanding gathering of Australian and international speakers including:

  • The Hon Al Gore: Former US Vice President and Chair of The Climate Reality Project
  • Debra Roberts: Climate Change Adviser to ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability
  • Aroma Revi:Director, Indian Institute for Human Settlements
  • Senator Ronan Dantec:Climate Spokesman for United Cities and Local Governments
  • Rachmat Whitoelar:Indonesian President’s Special Envoy for Climate Change
  • Kate Auty:Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment, ACT Government
  • Katherine Gibson:Professorial Fellow, Western Sydney University
  • Harriet Bulkeley:Professor of Geography, Durham University
  • Andy Merrifield:Author of ‘The New Urban Question’
  • Kevin Austin:Deputy CEO of C40