A window into what we’re reading at the Stimson Center’s Environmental Security Program

Climate Health Risks Spur Public Support for Action (Climate Change News)

Climate Opinion Research Exchange’s late 2025 survey of over 30,000 respondents across Brazil, India, Japan, and South Africa found that more than 80% of respondents expressed concern about climate impacts. Those surveyed also backed government measures to address the public health risks associated with climate change. While researchers believe that framing these questions as public health issues is particularly effective at building broad support, the survey also revealed that the most resonant health messages vary by country. Water scarcity draw attention in South Africa, while mental health has significant resonance in Brazil. Those in Japan see extreme heat as a key issue.

While public support is also growing in broader political spaces, results remain mixed.  Over 80 nations endorsed a plan at COP30 to strengthen the health sector’s resilience to climate impacts. These efforts also have been backed with $300 million in philanthropic funding. Yet more recent convenings—such as the Santa Marta Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels—have seen health issues sidelined. The survey findings suggest that localized messaging strategies may be a key element in mobilizing public action surrounding climate’s impact on public health.

READ | Rethinking Population, Climate, and Health: Focusing on Solutions

Indonesian Nickel Production Linked to Public Health Concerns and Labor Violations (Mongabay)

Indonesia’s national human rights commission, Komnas HAM, has documented severe health and rights failures resulting from the state’s failure to protect workers’ human rights as ecological damage and a health crises compound across Morowali and North Morowali districts. These issues appear particularly acute at PT Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park in Central Sulawesi, which is home to Southeast Asia’s largest nickel processing estate, .

There were over 305,000 diagnoses of respiratory infections recorded in Central Sulawesi in 2024 (a 26% increase from the prior year) In Morowali alone, 57,200 cases were confirmed. Many workers sleep in factories located just 50 meters from industrial smokestacks, which raises serious long-term cancer risks. At the Weda Bay Industrial Park in North Maluku, researchers also documented recurring accounts of unexplained worker deaths, which they view as a broader workplace trend, rather than a  series of isolated incidents.

READ | Indonesia’s Just Energy Transition Must Not Just Be More of the Same

Informal Settlements in Peru Highly Exposed to Landslides and Floods (The Guardian)

On the outskirts of Ayacucho, Peru, thousands of residents have settled on steep, landslide-prone slopes with little protective infrastructure. Between 2007 and 2026, these informal settlements have grown from 316 to over 30,000. However, the results of this growth in size have placed  two-thirds of the population of Mollepata—the largest informal neighborhood in Ayacucho—in a designated high-risk zone. The threats stem from worsening climate conditions — including rainfall that has halved since 1984, near-total loss of glacial snowpack, and increasingly intense storm events—that drive floods, landslides, and acute water shortages.

Across Latin America, one in five people live in unplanned settlements, often because safer housing is unaffordable. Such costs also make relocation an unrealistic option. While Ayacucho published an urban planning initiative in 2025 to improve infrastructure and disaster resilience in Mollepata, full integration of the initiative is estimated to cost nearly five times the city’s entire annual budget. It is a situation that leaves public officials with little more than advice to offer residents living in harm’s way.

READ | Climate Migration and Cities: Preparing for the Next Mass Movement of People