Live Webinar | Nutrition and Climate Change in South Africa: Adapting to the Challenge

ABOUT

Physicians Association for Nutrition International (PAN) hosts VegMed, Europe’s largest medical congress on plant-based nutrition and healthcare. For the first time, #VegMed2021 was hosted online, of which an entire day of content was dedicated to the role of climate change and pandemics in healthcare.

In order to bring this important topic to the South African public, Physicians Association for Nutrition South Africa (PAN SA) has collaborated with the Public Health Association for South Africa (PHASA) to present a free live webinar with the title, Nutrition and Climate Change in South Africa: Adapting to the Challenge. This webinar is made possible through a collaboration between PHASA Special Interest Groups (SIG) Health Promotion, Nutrition and Climate, Energy & Health. 

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The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty adopted by 196 parties at COP21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015. This landmark event initiated a worldwide commitment to limit global warming to below 2 degrees celsius.

Much time has passed since 2015, and we have since witnessed massive global transformations. In 2021, we are understanding more about the complexity of the planetary changes taking place and the immense amount of effort that is required to fight climate change.

In order to reach the ambitious target set by the Paris Agreement, it is vital for us to execute a collaborative approach. We must work together across departments to recognize our individual and collective impacts on planetary and global health in order to discover how we can best minimise these impacts.

During this collaborative live webinar, we will learn from those who have experience within the fields of medicine, geophysics and public health to begin to understand how climate change is impacting global health and what we can do about it.

We welcome all university students, especially the Health Science students, Health Professionals, Health Scientists and Researchers.

Date: 17 March 2021

Time: 16h00-17h30pm (South African Standard Time)

Platform: Zoom - You will receive the link when registered

Cost: Free

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Programme (Total 90min)

Introduction (5min)

How do our dietary choices affect the Earth? (12min)

Gidon Eshel is a Research Professor of Environmental Physics at Bard College. Eshel studied physics and earth sciences at the Technion & Haifi University, Israel before getting an M.A., M.Phil., and a Ph.D. at Columbia University in mathematical geophysics. He is best known for his work on quantifying geophysical consequences of agriculture and diet.

How is climate change affecting food safety, exposure to pesticides and mycotoxins? (12min)

Dr Cliff Zinyemba holds a PhD in Public Health from the University of Cape Town. His PhD research focussed on characterising the relationship between climate change and agricultural use of, and exposure to endocrine disrupting pesticides. He is currently working as a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe in the Department of Primary Health Care Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. He teaches "Introduction to Environmental Health" and "Climate Change and Health" in the Occupational and Environmental Health programme. 

How can we have a multisystem approach to advocacy and policy change? (12min)

Rachel Thompson has experience spanning international development, global health and food systems - the common thread being a commitment to promote equity in health and beyond. Rachel is currently a Policy Advisor at the World Obesity Federation, where she leads advocacy work with UN agencies to advance multi-sector action on malnutrition in all its forms.

What is the role of a plant-based diet in the context of climate change? (12min)

Dr Tushar Mehta is a physician and co-founder of Plant Based Data, an online database which collects and organizes the most important academic and institutional literature regarding the impact of a plant-based diet on health, environmental and food security, including the role of animal agriculture in creating pandemics. This resource is free to access, and meant to assist others in their education, writing, advocacy and policy work. 

How should South Africa respond to the challenge? (12min)

Professor Andrew Robinson, Chairman & Co-Founder of PAN-SA, Deputy Dean and Extraordinary Professor in the North West University Health Science Faculty.

Questions & Answers (25min)