Three-day workshop on Planetary Health in Malaysia

 

Three-day workshop on Planetary Health in Malaysia

On a pleasant, sunny morning in late February, I arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After a scenic, hour-long taxi ride of more than 40 kilometers, I arrived in Sunway City, a town in Subang Jaya. It was home to Sunway University and the Sunway Center for Planetary Health, which hosted the annual Planetary Health Summit last April. It was also the location of the workshop I was attending. Part of the Capacity Development and Training Series for Media Professionals, we had gathered to discuss the health of the Earth, with a focus on extreme heat and human health.

The workshop brought together 30 journalists and experts from ASEAN and SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) regions. It was the second in a proposed series of ten workshops to be held over four years, to equip media professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to report on the health of planet Earth, to discuss climate challenges, to learn how to combat misinformation and fake news, and to integrate problem-based journalism into reporting. What followed was an engaging and impactful few days of learning, teaching, and relearning.

 

Every morning, before the session began, participants walked side by side on the 4km Canopy Walk to the university, a shaded path through lush greenery connecting key landmarks at Sunway. This 40-minute walk prepared us for the rest of the activities. The moments of informal exchanges, shared observations, and budding friendships were invaluable. It was also a rare opportunity for some of us to meet journalists from neighboring countries in person.

 

Malaysia’s announced commitments to environmental policies and actions made Malaysia a suitable location for the workshop. For me, visiting a developing Southeast Asian country in the context of climate change was educational on many levels.

What is Planetary Health?

Planetary health is a relatively recent concept. It is broadly defined as a multidisciplinary concept that explores the relationship between environmental change, human well-being and global sustainability. As a multi-faceted approach, it seeks to address climate change, environmental pollution and the impacts of these issues on human health.

According to the Sunway Centre, the planetary health approach recognises that humanity has made significant progress, exemplified by the industrial and technological revolutions. But the side effects of such developmental gains are now increasingly evident as a barrier to the health of the planet. This is seen in declining biodiversity, increasing air pollution, depletion of natural resources and damage to the environment in which we live.

The importance of effective journalistic storytelling

The center’s executive director, Dr. Jamila Mahmood, says it is important to understand the connection between climate change, rising temperatures, and health outcomes, and she emphasizes the importance of the health of our planet in light of these issues. “This workshop is not just about understanding the science – it is about becoming a more effective storyteller and reporter of the climate and health crises,” she says.

As Dialogue Earth’s Pakistan editor, I get the opportunity to write about heatwaves, floods, and climate-related diseases in the region, as well as assign journalistic reports. The 2022 floods in Pakistan, widely known as the “monster monsoon,” affected one in seven people in the country and displaced nearly eight million people. Since then, climate change has come under intense scrutiny in the world’s fifth-most populous country. Yet, across the region, I have seen that disaster coverage often relegates climate change to the background, presenting it as an abstract and ambiguous backdrop rather than a significant contributor.

Workshop activities, such as developing news stories based on artificial heatwave crises, forced me to consider how we frame our stories in Pakistan. Do we have the tools, data, and scientific knowledge to understand the nexus between health and climate change and report on this topic effectively? The discussions during the workshop revealed that the challenges faced by journalists in developing and least developed countries are common.

Identifying reporting challenges

Speakers and trainers addressed a wide range of topics, but there were a few key themes that stood out, highlighting their importance. These included the role of climate change in accelerating public health crises; heat events in Asia and how they are attributed to climate change; how different physical effects of heat have been observed in different ecosystems; the impact of heat waves on human performance and the economy; and the ethics and complexities of reporting on heat-related deaths and disasters. Recognizing and understanding the psychology of the audience for climate stories, strategies for avoiding misinformation, and how to improve the quality of climate reporting were also part of the discussions.

One discussion focused on analyzing Southeast Asian climate reporting. The exchanges that followed highlighted topics such as disparities in typhoon coverage between rural and urban locations, and differences in the language used in reporting. Several participants discussed how local press often provides more local reporting, while English-language media influence policymakers. Political implications were also examined, with journalists discussing how they discuss and report on sensitive discussions around the fossil fuel phase-out. Journalists noted that in some countries these topics are often seen as a symbol of nationalist sentiment.

A particularly interesting session was led by Professor Jason Lee of the Heat Resilience and Performance Centre at the National University of Singapore, and the session resonated with most participants. Professor Lee highlighted the health impacts of extreme heat and the need to protect vulnerable populations such as the elderly, saying that community and religious leaders can play a key role in addressing the impacts of extreme heat. Lee discussed research linking extreme heat to increased aggression, impulsive behaviour and higher rates of suicide, and the need for cooling solutions that are easily accessible. A place where you can’t walk comfortably is not good for your health, he said. “Human health and well-being depend on three things: good food, good sleep, good exercise. And all three are affected by extreme heat.” Lee used the metaphor of boiling frogs to describe the effects of extreme heat events: “We’re slowly being cooked and we don’t even know it.”

The Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission on Planetary Health says that human health and the health of the Earth are intertwined, and that “our civilization depends on human health, thriving natural systems, and the wise management of natural resources. Natural systems are facing a level of degradation that is unprecedented in human history. Both our health and the health of our planet are affected.” Lee’s session, like many others, emphasized how urgent this has become.

As the workshop drew to a close, I wondered what the concept of terrestrial health meant for Pakistan. As I walked the Canopy Walk for the last time, I thought about Lee’s session, and realized that the need for walkability and heat-resistant urban design is well reflected in this walkway. In a country that can experience extreme heat, such urban infrastructure that prioritizes comfort and human health is a good example for other countries, as our world experiences extreme heat.

I realized that planetary health is not just an academic concept. At the human level, human lives are affected by extreme heat and climate-related disasters. We have written on Dialogue Earth about the impact of climate disasters on women in Pakistan, the impact of heat on maternal and child health, and vulnerable communities displaced by monsoon floods. But this workshop has strengthened my resolve to report more effectively, because human lives on this Earth are connected to the health of the planet.