Climate change has taken a toll on the health and homelands of Indigenous communities worldwide, including the Deninu K’ue First Nation in the Northwest Territories, the home of Professor Nicole Redvers. As a prominent figure in epidemiology and biostatistics at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Redvers has been appointed to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Technical Advisory Group-Ethics & Climate Health, where she will bring her unique Indigenous perspective to address global challenges.
Redvers, a member of the Deninu K’ue First Nation, recognizes that Indigenous communities, including her own, have experienced the impacts of climate change at three to four times the global rate. In her new role as one of the 13 members of the WHO advisory group, she aims to contribute tools, materials, and evidence-based insights to tackle the ethical dimensions of health and climate change on a global scale.
“There are many different ethical dimensions that come into the conversation around climate change and health. What obligation do we as humans have in considering the environment as part of our health and what does that look like when it comes to ethical policy development?” Redvers commented.
The TAG (Technical Advisory Group) comprises members with diverse technical expertise, geographical representation, and gender balance. The group’s mission is to address ethical issues in policy development, particularly in regions like Africa, Asia, South and Central America, and Indigenous communities, which have been disproportionately affected by climate change.
Redvers emphasized the growing interest and awareness of the importance of Indigenous Peoples and their knowledge in the climate change discussion. As the director of Indigenous Planetary Health and Western Research Chair, she is poised to bring Indigenous community perspectives into the global dialogue on climate change.
“Thankfully, there has been greater interest and awareness of the importance of Indigenous Peoples and their knowledges as part of the climate change discussion,” said Redvers. “Because of that, I’m grateful and looking forward to bringing in Indigenous community perspectives to that dialogue because we have very clear ethical guidelines.”
The advisory group is set to convene for its first meeting in January 2024, with a primary goal of introducing ethical dialogue into the intersection of climate change and health, an aspect that Redvers believes has been lacking.
“One of the prime goals is bringing in the ethical dialogue into the climate change and health space, which, frankly, have just not been there,” Redvers stated. In May 2023, Schulich Medicine & Dentistry joined other Canadian medical schools in signing the Academic Health Institutions’ Declaration on Planetary Health, an initiative led by the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC), of which Redvers is the co-chair of the Committee on Planetary Health.
