“If we are destroying the natural environment, we’re destroying the foundations for human health and well-being.” Our Executive Director Fiona Armstrong spoke about the connections between COVID-19 and the climate and environmental crises with ABC TV Weekend Breakfast over the weekend.

Fiona discussed how our war on nature has seen the rise of zoonotic diseases (ones that have made the jump from animals to humans) like COVID-19 because humans are increasingly encroaching on and destroying animal habitats, and how protecting our health will require protecting nature. 

When asked about climate sceptics and deniers, Fiona cautions to be wary of those who wish to maintain the status-quo: 

"The reality is that climate denial is funded by those who have a vested interest in the status quo. There's well established techniques that corporations have used to sow doubt about science for decades. 

The tobacco industry wrote the playbook, the fossil fuel companies have just updated it and added a few chapters.”

Fiona made the case that a health-lens needs to be applied to all policy-making: “When we are making decisions about climate policy, or in fact any policy, we need to be considering what the implications are for health.

Watch the full interview here: