Multinational Fossil Fuel Exploitation and the Health Legacy in the context of the Just Transition
1
1. Discipline of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
2
2. School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States
3
3. Planetary Health, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
4
4. GroundWork, Durban, South Africa
5
5. Union of People Affected by the Oil Operations of Texaco, Quito, Ecuador
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The extraction, processing and transport of fossil fuels causes a wide suite of environmental and health impacts associated with both routine releases and unplanned spills of hydrocarbons, drilling fluids and tailings, fires and explosions, air emissions, and other practices. These lead to large scale contamination of soil, surface water, groundwater, air and the food chain, which exposes and adversely affects communities and workers. While approaches to prevent, cleanup and restore many of these impacts are feasible and economical, often corporate management and governmental oversight have failed, leading to enormous and long-lived environmental disasters, permanently damaged and off-limit exclusion zones, and community exposure. Despite their scale and significance, many impacts are incompletely recognized, and their costs are not borne by industry.
METHODS:
A novel researcher-community activist paired panel discussion approach will be adopted. This pairing will consist of an international expert in the field of fossil fuel exposure and health outcomes in specific geographical locations, together with a local community member/activist from that location. The researcher-expert will address the environmental impacts of the exploitation or refining of fossil fuels in these locations, the related legacy health effects and the social and economic burden of rehabilitation, while the community representative will describe the health and social impacts, the potential for intervention within the context of a just-transition.
RESULTS:
Team 1 (Stuart Batterman/TBD) will address Oil/Tar Sands and Fracking in the United States and Canada”. Team 2 (Ebba Malmqvist/Silvia Yanez) will address “Oil exploration in the Amazonia”. Team 3 (Rajen Naidoo/Rico Euripidou) will address “Multinational refineries in South Africa, their health legacy and residual environmental rehabilitation burden”.
CONCLUSIONS:
The moderator will present a series of 4-5 discussion points and will seek input and discussion from the audience. A summary of high-level points will be assimilated for submission to WCPH and other stakeholders
The extraction, processing and transport of fossil fuels causes a wide suite of environmental and health impacts associated with both routine releases and unplanned spills of hydrocarbons, drilling fluids and tailings, fires and explosions, air emissions, and other practices. These lead to large scale contamination of soil, surface water, groundwater, air and the food chain, which exposes and adversely affects communities and workers. While approaches to prevent, cleanup and restore many of these impacts are feasible and economical, often corporate management and governmental oversight have failed, leading to enormous and long-lived environmental disasters, permanently damaged and off-limit exclusion zones, and community exposure. Despite their scale and significance, many impacts are incompletely recognized, and their costs are not borne by industry.
METHODS:
A novel researcher-community activist paired panel discussion approach will be adopted. This pairing will consist of an international expert in the field of fossil fuel exposure and health outcomes in specific geographical locations, together with a local community member/activist from that location. The researcher-expert will address the environmental impacts of the exploitation or refining of fossil fuels in these locations, the related legacy health effects and the social and economic burden of rehabilitation, while the community representative will describe the health and social impacts, the potential for intervention within the context of a just-transition.
RESULTS:
Team 1 (Stuart Batterman/TBD) will address Oil/Tar Sands and Fracking in the United States and Canada”. Team 2 (Ebba Malmqvist/Silvia Yanez) will address “Oil exploration in the Amazonia”. Team 3 (Rajen Naidoo/Rico Euripidou) will address “Multinational refineries in South Africa, their health legacy and residual environmental rehabilitation burden”.
CONCLUSIONS:
The moderator will present a series of 4-5 discussion points and will seek input and discussion from the audience. A summary of high-level points will be assimilated for submission to WCPH and other stakeholders
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
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