Experts: To Fight Climate Change, Tackle Obesity and Starvation

The three pandemics are inextricably linked, according to a new report.

Interconnected Challenges

Addressing malnutrition will help the world fight climate change, according to a new report by The Lancet Commission on Obesity.

Globally, more than 2 billion people are overweight or obese, while 815 million are chronically undernourished. Meanwhile, climate change is destroying the planet, with more harm on the horizon.

In the report, the Commission argues that these three pandemics are inextricably linked as a single "Global Syndemic" — and policies designed to solve one of them could help solve the others.

Take Action

The report includes several specific policy suggestions.

If governments invest in public transportation, for example, people who can't find work near their homes — and therefore can't afford food — could have more job options. People who use public transportation also get more exercise than those who drive, so this could also help the obesity epidemic while decreasing personal vehicle emissions.

Another suggestion is a decrease in subsidies for beef, sugar, and other foods that are both less healthy and bad for the environment, and increased investments in healthier foods grown sustainably.

According the report: "The concept of The Global Syndemic has the potential to bring these closely aligned challenges together under one umbrella and to advance actions and accountability to the next level needed to achieve planetary health."

READ MORE: To Fix Climate Change, Fix the Obesity and Starvation Epidemics, Reports Say [CNN]

More on climate change: Think Big Oil’s a Problem? “Big Meat” Emits More Greenhouse Gas Than Most Countries