About Us
Doctors for the Environment Australia is the leading medical voice on health and climate.
We are medical doctors who understand that human health requires a healthy planet, with an environment that is free of pollution, rich in biodiversity, and able to provide for current and future generations sustainably.
We call for climate action in recognition of the health harms caused by global heating and climate change.
We work to protect biodiversity, knowing that the health of humans is inextricably linked with the health of our natural world.
We advocate for a sustainable healthcare system to reduce the health sectors carbon footprint.
You can support DEA by making a tax-deductible donation.
Doctors and medical students please join us and help us in all the work we do.
The importance of a health voice
Our physical and mental health depends on the health of our planet: clear air, clean water, biodiversity, productive soils, nutritious food, and a stable climate.
They are all under significant threat from the mounting planetary health crisis and mass environmental destruction. In Australia, the local human health impacts of climate change have already become ominously clear. Rising temperatures, bushfires, worsening extreme weather, altered infectious disease patterns and drought are placing pressure on the health of all Australians - particularly in vulnerable communities such as children, older people, First Nations and CALD communities.
Climate change threatens liveability across Australia due to extreme weather events, and also disrupt our healthcare systems’ capacity to deliver high-quality care.
Multiple studies have shown health professionals to be the most trusted members of Australian society - they can shift public opinion on climate and reach conservative audiences who have tended to be hesitant about accepting climate change and its risks.
Our members are informed, capable, and committed to ensuring that health is a critical component of climate change discussions.
Our values:
- Respect for the natural world: we recognise the intrinsic value of the natural world, and its interconnectedness with human health.
- Right to health: the highest attainable standard of health is a fundamental right of every human being.
- Scientific integrity: we are guided by the highest standards of evidence and scientific rigour.
- First Nations leadership: we value the knowledge systems and cultural practices of First Nations peoples and seek to work in solidarity.
- Equity and justice: we acknowledge that climate change and environmental destruction are unjust, affecting some people more than others. We seek to address this imbalance.
- Non-partisanship: we are independent of party political alignment.
- Care and support: we are a supportive organisation in which all voices are heard and respected.