The intricate nexus between climate change, conflict, and human health presents a formidable challenge at the intersection of environmental science, geopolitics, and global public health. Leading experts recently underscored this interplay in a comprehensive commentary, highlighting how climate change and conflict together exacerbate vulnerabilities, leading to compounded and multifaceted consequences that imperil populations worldwide. The emergent understanding recognizes not just additive effects but synergistic dynamics, where climate stressors and violent conflict amplify each other’s impacts on health outcomes. This synthesis is crucial for informing strategic interventions to mitigate these intertwined threats.
From 1995 through 2015, conflict has been responsible for staggering mortality rates among children, claiming over ten million young lives, a figure that starkly illustrates the human toll of war and instability. Moreover, women in reproductive age living in zones of intense conflict experience mortality rates triple those of their counterparts in peaceful settings. These demographic disparities mirror the disruption conflict inflicts on healthcare access, social infrastructure, and protective services, making vulnerable populations disproportionately susceptible to adverse health conditions. This conflict-induced mortality underscores the urgent need for peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts integrated with health system strengthening.
Compounding these conflict impacts, climate change adds a severe layer of health risk, exemplified by the dramatic rise in heat-related deaths in Europe during unprecedentedly hot summers in recent years. Over 60,000 fatalities were recorded across 32 countries over the summers of 2022 and 2024, with women bearing a disproportionately higher burden than men. These statistics reveal gendered vulnerabilities shaped by physiological, social, and occupational factors, demanding gender-sensitive approaches to climate adaptation and health resilience. The phenomena of extreme heat events underscore the urgency of integrating climate considerations into public health planning and response frameworks.
Beyond the immediate loss of life, the indirect consequences of climate change and conflict on health systems are profound and multifaceted. Environmental degradation and violent disruptions damage healthcare infrastructure and fracture supply chains, undermining the availability of medical supplies and services. This deterioration threatens the nutritional status of populations through reduced food security and exacerbates the proliferation of infectious diseases by compromising sanitation and vector control. Such systemic disruptions dramatically increase the risks of undernutrition, malnutrition, and communicable disease outbreaks, creating a vicious cycle of vulnerability that is difficult to reverse without coordinated responses.
Critical to addressing these health risks is robust climate action. Both mitigation efforts—aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit future climate impacts—and adaptation strategies—focused on enhancing resilience to current climate variability—are essential. However, conflict zones often divert resources and political will away from such initiatives, complicating efforts to safeguard health in fragile contexts. The political economy of war constrains environmental governance, thereby impeding climate-related health interventions and prolonging systemic vulnerabilities among affected populations.
Mitigation expenditures face particular vulnerabilities amidst ongoing conflicts. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, for example, precipitated a significant reduction in investments dedicated to climate mitigation, as financial and administrative resources were rapidly redirected toward defense and post-conflict reconstruction. This shift exemplifies how warfare hampers the global effort to curtail greenhouse gas emissions, thereby prolonging climate change trajectories and associated health risks. Such dynamics highlight the critical necessity for conflict-sensitive environmental policy and funding mechanisms that can withstand geopolitical shocks.
Paradoxically, military activities themselves constitute a major yet under-recognized source of greenhouse gas emissions, adding complexity to the climate-health-conflict triad. Conservative estimates attribute approximately 5.5% of global greenhouse emissions to defense-related operations, with the United States identified as the largest contributor. This unresolved tension spotlights the double-edged nature of militarization: while it is frequently framed as a means of security, it concurrently aggravates environmental degradation, thereby seeding further health and stability challenges. Addressing this requires critical scrutiny of military carbon footprints within broader climate action frameworks.
A forward-thinking approach to these interlinked challenges is the development and application of integrative analytical tools such as the Climate Conflict Vulnerability Index. This index identifies geographic hotspots where climate stressors and conflict risks converge with social vulnerabilities, including healthcare deficiencies. By mapping these intersections, policymakers and researchers can prioritize areas for targeted interventions that simultaneously address climate adaptation, conflict prevention, and health system strengthening. Such tools exemplify the promise of transdisciplinary science in unraveling the complexity of compound risks facing vulnerable societies.
Integral to these efforts is a holistic recognition that only through synchronized strategies—combining climate action, conflict resolution, and health system reinforcement—can the destructive feedback loops perpetuating instability be disrupted. Strengthening health infrastructure in fragile and conflict-affected states must be central to these integrated responses, ensuring these systems can withstand and adapt to compounded shocks. The articulation of this multidimensional framework challenges traditional siloed policymaking and underscores the necessity of collaborative, cross-sectoral governance.
The science underlying these connected domains offers critical insights that guide decision-making processes. Through interdisciplinary research involving climatology, epidemiology, conflict studies, and social science, nuanced data projections and risk assessments enable anticipatory policy design. Scientific contributions help elucidate mechanisms by which climate phenomena exacerbate conflict triggers and how both collectively deteriorate health outcomes. This evolving knowledge base is instrumental for developing early warning systems, adaptive public health measures, and peacebuilding strategies that are climate-aware.
The urgency of advancing combined climate-conflict-health action further reflects ongoing global health threats exacerbated by shifting climatic baselines and geopolitical upheavals. As extreme weather events increase in frequency and intensity, and as conflict persists in numerous regions, the compounded vulnerabilities will likely worsen without concerted international effort. Only by elevating these intersections within global development and humanitarian agendas can sustainable progress be achieved. This necessitates renewed political commitment, increased funding allocations, and enhanced multilateral cooperation.
Ultimately, the convergence of climate change, conflict, and health demands a paradigm shift in how societies conceptualize and respond to risk. This transdisciplinary challenge compels new modes of governance that embrace complexity, prioritize equity, and emphasize resilience. It beckons the international community to dismantle barriers between sectors and knowledge domains, fostering collaborative innovation for a future where climate security and human health are mutually reinforcing objectives rather than conflicting demands. The roadmap forward is clear: integration is imperative for breaking cycles of vulnerability and fostering sustainable peace and well-being.
Subject of Research: People
Article Title: Tackling the complex links between climate change, conflict, and health
News Publication Date: 5-Nov-2025
Web References: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r1578
Keywords: Climate change, Climate change effects, Human health
