Psychological Resilience: Care of People x Planet

Conference of the Parties (COP 27) was held for 2 weeks from the 6^th of November to the 20^th of November, 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt; world leaders, negotiators, and climate activists gathered as they do each year to build on the outcome of the previous year (COP 26) and negotiate on climate actions and policies to tackle the climate crisis.

Unlike previous years where the impact of climate change is highly focused on environmental, economic, social, and physical health factors – This year’s discussion did not only touch on the very important impact of the climate crisis on mental health, a policy and standard strategy was agreed upon. It is worth mentioning that the impact of climate change on mental health was discussed in COP 26 but it was left as a futile discussion as no action nor policy was set to back it up.

In recent times, mental health has been seen as one of the significant ripple effects of climate change. In fact, UNDP’s most recent Human Development Report says, “Mental well-being is under assault”. There is growing proof of the impact of climate change on our mental health, and the first highly recognised impact of climate change on mental health was brought by World Health Organization (WHO ) policy brief on Mental health and Climate Change in June 2022, this policy briefly discussed the connection between climate change and mental health. According to the brief,

 “Climate change also exacerbates many social and environmental risk factors for mental health and psychosocial problems, and can lead to emotional distress, the development of new mental health conditions and worsening situations for people already living with these conditions”. 

The policy suggests integrating mental health support with climate action, amongst others. With all reports and discussions sparked, there has been no concrete strategy to combat the vulnerable and mentally exhausting manner in which the climate crisis affects the lives of nearly 4 billion people until the 10^th of November, 2022 at COP 27. A recent report by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also reinforces the increasing impacts of climate change on health and well-being, particularly mental health; expectations and hopes were high on the issue of the impact of the climate crisis on mental health this year. And our hopes were not dashed, finally, a system was put in place during Resilience Day at COP 27, and COP ² (Care of People and Planet) was birthed. 

COP ² is a system that was put in place to strengthen and protect our mental health. As we fight towards reducing climate crisis, we need not forget ourselves, we need the psychological resilience to forge ahead, and we need to hold hands together to overcome eco-anxiety, stress, trauma, and all other emotions that climate change will trigger. COP ² in collaboration with WHO, ECHO Project, and UN’s Race to Resilience is a global network of 250+ organizations (SustyVibes inclusive), including climate and mental health experts, converging to raise their collective voices to get the resources and prioritisation of mental health as a component of how the climate crisis is addressed. The goal is to create a united front against the psychological impacts that climate change demands through awareness, action, and advocacy.COP ² will work collaboratively with the UN’s campaign, Race to Resilience which is a campaign set in 2021 to put people and nature first in pursuit of a resilient world where we not only survive climate shocks and stresses but thrive in spite of them. COP ² will work with the Race to Resilience to create a blueprint, explore vast universal best practices on ways to nurture the capacity of psychological resilience, and provide the utmost mental health support systems in situations of the climate crisis.

Jennifer Uchendu, founder of SustyVibes, project lead at The Eco-anxiety Africa Project (TEAP), and a Steering Committee Member at COP ² has been in the news talking and advocating for eco-anxiety since COP 25. Speaking on COP², she buttresses the importance of mental health, 

“Beyond infrastructure, beyond tools and technology, people also need to be resilient, people need to be adaptive to the climate crisis”.

Climate change is ever escalating, it takes a toll on the mental state of human beings, and no one is really prepared for the changes it brings to our physical and mental state. Hence, COP ² is an extremely important initiative that will address the “things” affected by climate change the most — the People and the Planet. The fight to combat climate change is still on as ever, we still have a long way to go to reduce global warming, but while at it, we need to stay sane. Climate activists need to be strengthened and refreshed in order to remain persistent in this cause. Vulnerable individuals need to be able to cope, adapt and stay resilient also, we owe that much to ourselves.We are in this together, visit www.cop2.org/get-involved to get involved.

By Opeyemi Olawale