Climate Change and Mental Health of Older Persons: A Human Rights Imperative

Liat Ayalon, Norah Keating, Karl Pillemer, Kiran Rabheru

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

Climate change threatens the basic prerequisites for wellbeing, including clean air and water, food supply and the adequacy and security of shelter. Climate change is a powerful and ongoing presence in the lives of older persons, both creating and exacerbating vulnerabilities. The absence of a legally binding international instrument specifically protecting the human rights of older persons and minimal references to older persons in key international climate instruments attest to the lack of attention to and visibility of older persons in national and international law. There is a need to integrate the areas of older people and environmental sustainability to ensure that the rights of older people are preserved especially now, as the effects of the climate change crisis become more pronounced.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1038-1040
Number of pages3
JournalAmerican Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
Volume29
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry

Funding

This work was partially supported by a grant from the Israel Science Foundation 217/20 to Liat Ayalon and Norah Keating as a collaborator. The data from this article have not been presented at any meetings/conferences.

FundersFunder number
Israel Science Foundation217/20

    Keywords

    • Human rights
    • ageism
    • climate change
    • susceptibility

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