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 (UNFCCC) warned on Monday, calling 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, UNFCCC chief Simon Stiell said a deep test of climate action was “far, 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.
by UN News – Extreme heat making pregnancy a ‘new fault line’ in climate crisis
