A new global commission led by The Lancet has been launched to examine the growing health and justice impacts of sea-level rise, as climate change accelerates risks for millions living in coastal and low-lying regions.

The Lancet Commission on Sea-Level Rise, Health and Justice, announced on April 8, brings together 26 international experts to assess how rising seas are reshaping public health, livelihoods, and global equity.

A Growing Crisis Beyond Climate

Sea-level rise, driven by anthropogenic climate change, is already contributing to displacement, food and water insecurity, and changing patterns of infectious diseases. The Commission marks the first major effort to analyse these intersecting risks through a health-focused lens.

“This commission comes at exactly the right time… sea-level rise is no longer a distant threat. It is already disrupting lives, health and wellbeing, especially for the most vulnerable,” said Christiana Figueres, Co-Chair of the Commission and a former UN climate chief.

Experts warn that the impacts extend far beyond environmental damage, affecting the social and economic fabric of vulnerable communities.

“Rising seas don’t just threaten coastlines, they threaten lives, livelihoods, and basic fairness. This is not only a climate problem. It is a health crisis, a justice crisis, and an urgent call for collective action,” said Jemilah Mahmood, Commissioner, Lancet Commission, and Executive Director of the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health, Malaysia.

An Urgent Global Health Challenge

The Commission is supported by the WHO Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health and aims to generate evidence-based policy recommendations to strengthen adaptation, resilience, and equitable responses.

Dr Sandro Demaio, Director of WHO ACE, emphasised the immediacy of the crisis.

“Sea-level rise is no longer a distant threat — it is a public health emergency unfolding now. Through this WHO supported global Commission, we are clear: inaction is not neutral, it is a choice that puts lives and justice at risk.”

Human Impacts at the Core

The Commission also highlights the disproportionate burden on vulnerable populations, particularly in coastal and low-income regions.

“Rising sea levels are more than an environmental issue; they quietly contaminate water, displace communities, and increase health risks for those least able to cope. Every centimetre of sea level rise is not just a measure of water, but a measure of injustice,” said Kathryn Bowen, Co-Chair of the Commission.

A Defining Policy Moment

With projections suggesting that hundreds of millions of people could be displaced by the end of the century, the Commission aims to inform global policy and strengthen international cooperation.

“Sea-level rise is not just an environmental issue — it is a test of our commitment to people, equity, and future generations,” said Jiho Cha, Member of Parliament, Republic of Korea and Co-Chair of the Commission.

The Commission will contribute to global policy discussions, including international climate platforms, and aims to place human and planetary health at the centre of climate action.

As student stress and mental health challenges rise, educational institutions must move beyond symbolic gestures and invest in structured wellbeing systems—starting with a dedicated happiness officer on campus.

The rising need for happiness

20 March was celebrated as the International Day of Happiness.

The idea of creating an International Day of Happiness is a great one; it deserves to be taken seriously. However, there is a need to do much more than celebrate happiness for just one day a year. This becomes crucial when one considers the rising problem of stress, depression and suicides among young people around the world, including in India.

The challenges of stress, depression and suicides among students

The education system places significant pressure on students, yet they are rarely taught how they, their parents, teachers or the system itself can help them cope with this pressure—or how to view their efforts in the right perspective.

Because of a lack of awareness, education and capability, stress has become a major issue in students’ lives, often leading to depression and, in some cases, suicides. These challenges have far-reaching negative impacts across different aspects of life, as supported by multiple research studies.

A happiness officer on campus

Since happiness is an essential ingredient for a fulfilling life—and also acts as a preventive factor in dealing with stress—it is important to give it greater importance in educational institutions.

Institutions already place heavy demands on faculty and staff, who may not have the time to actively focus on student wellbeing. In this context, employing a dedicated happiness officer to address health and wellbeing on campus could be a significant step forward.

The happiness officer’s primary responsibility should be to raise awareness about happiness, as well as the dangers of stress and depression, among students, faculty, staff and others on campus. This awareness must be continuous rather than occasional.

The second responsibility should be to organise regular programmes in engaging ways, covering themes such as what happiness is, why it matters, and how it can be cultivated, alongside practical approaches to understanding, avoiding and managing stress.

The third responsibility should be to track individuals who may be experiencing stress or depression and ensure they receive timely support. Additional responsibilities can be developed depending on the needs and context of each institution.

Avoiding the trap of tokenism

However, awareness initiatives and programmes must be implemented with sincerity and intent. The happiness officer must work in both letter and spirit to create meaningful impact, rather than simply fulfilling formal requirements.

This role should not fall into the common institutional trap where ticking boxes becomes more important than creating real change on the ground.

Global energy chokepoints pose persistent risks to oil and LNG supply, with E3G warning import-dependent economies face long-term vulnerability.

Even in an era of apparent energy abundance, the global system that powers economies is built on a fragile foundation: a handful of narrow maritime routes that cannot be bypassed.

A new analysis by E3G warns that these global energy chokepoints—from the Strait of Hormuz to critical shipping corridors in Asia—are not occasional vulnerabilities but permanent features of the fossil fuel economy.

A system where disruption is inevitable

For decades, energy security has been framed as a question of supply: more oil, more gas, more infrastructure. But the report challenges that assumption, arguing that supply expansion does little to address the deeper structural risks embedded in global trade routes.

Introducing the findings, Richard Smith, a senior policy advisor at E3G, cautioned that recent tensions around key transit routes are not exceptional.

“What we’re seeing in Hormuz isn’t a freak, one-off event. It’s an inherent and unavoidable part of the global oil and gas system. Even though we were just in an era of low price and oversupply, globally integrated fossil fuel markets leave all oil and gas consumers bracing for an inflation shock. Renewables aren’t without risk – there are also solar panels stuck in Hormuz right now. But for every solar panel that makes it through, that’s secure energy every day for a generation. Renewables and energy efficiency are the only realistic way to escape this crisis loop.”

The implication is stark: even in well-supplied markets, the concentration of energy flows through a limited number of routes ensures that disruption remains a constant threat.

The rise of “paper chokepoints”

While physical blockages—conflict, piracy, or accidents—remain the most visible risks, the report highlights a quieter and increasingly influential set of constraints.

So-called “paper chokepoints” include shipping bottlenecks, insurance withdrawals, regulatory barriers and climate-related disruptions. None require a single tanker to be stopped outright, yet all can constrict supply and drive up prices.

Because oil and LNG markets are deeply interconnected, these disruptions cascade quickly across regions. A bottleneck in one location can trigger volatility far beyond it, intensifying competition for cargoes and amplifying price shocks.

This interconnectedness means that even countries not directly reliant on a specific chokepoint are still exposed to its consequences.

Asia’s vulnerability—and India’s economic exposure

The risks are most acute in Asia, which depends heavily on energy imports moving through a small number of strategic routes.

Madhura Joshi, programme lead for global clean power diplomacy at E3G, pointed to the region’s deep exposure to the Strait of Hormuz.

“Asia receives nearly 90% of the oil and LNG transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and the consequences of prolonged disruption will be felt unevenly across the region. For India, sustained high oil prices translate directly into widening current account deficits, currency pressure, and fiscal stress that could constrain both growth and public spending. Japan and South Korea, among the world’s most LNG-dependent economies, face acute supply vulnerability with limited ability to absorb prolonged market tightness.

“This crisis makes clear that energy security for these economies cannot rest on access to the same fragile chokepoints; accelerating electrification and domestic clean energy is the most durable path to genuine resilience.”

For India, where energy imports are tightly linked to inflation, fiscal balance and currency stability, the stakes are particularly high. Prolonged disruptions are not just supply issues—they are macroeconomic shocks.

Energy security—and the illusion of control

The report reframes energy security as a question not simply of access, but of control. Maria Pastukhova, programme lead for energy transition at E3G, emphasised that reliance on distant supply chains fundamentally limits national resilience.

“Energy systems are a backbone of national security, but for many importers, that backbone depends on infrastructure and routes far beyond their control. Reliance on distant supply chains and chokepoints means disruption risk is built in. Clean energy systems are not immune to shocks, but they shift more of the system under domestic control and reduce exposure to geopolitical and market volatility. That is the strategic energy security lesson from this crisis.”

In other words, the vulnerability lies not just in scarcity but in dependence—on infrastructure and geopolitics beyond national reach.

A pathway out of the chokepoint trap

The analysis outlines a five-track strategy to reduce exposure, combining short-term crisis management with long-term structural change.

Emergency measures—strategic reserves, diversified suppliers, infrastructure protection—can help absorb immediate shocks. But they do not eliminate the underlying risks.

Only structural shifts—reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels through electrification, efficiency, storage and domestic clean energy—offer durable resilience.

Unlike fossil fuel systems, where exposure to chokepoints is persistent, clean energy systems become more secure over time as domestic capacity expands.

A permanent feature of the fossil fuel era

The report’s conclusion is clear: chokepoint risk is not a temporary disruption but a defining characteristic of the global oil and gas system.

As long as energy flows depend on narrow, contested routes, the possibility of sudden shocks—economic, political or logistical—will remain ever-present.

For policymakers, the question is no longer whether disruptions will occur, but how quickly they can reduce their exposure to them.

And in that transition, the shift to clean energy is no longer just a climate imperative—it is a strategic one.