ABSTRACT
Climate change poses considerable threats to health. However, mitigation strategies that protect the environment offer the promise of improving health through a variety of pathways, while reducing social and health inequalities. In common with most public health issues, although it has proved necessary to establish the scientific basis of climate change, solutions ultimately lie in the political and economic realm. Climate change, as a global determinant of health, links the global economy with the environment and health, illustrating the necessity for global governance. Trade liberalization and the deregulation and privatization that have accompanied it has led to extensive environmental degradation: deforestation in Indonesia for the paper and palm oil industry. The environmental movement has had some success in getting climate change and other related issues onto the agenda of international agencies such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and this may be a way of furthering the global health agenda more broadly.
