The contemporary world is facing a convergence of interconnected environmental challenges—climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution—widely recognized as the triple planetary crisis. Together, these crises pose escalating risks to human health, livelihoods, and social systems, with disproportionate impacts on vulnerable population groups. Elderly populations are particularly at risk due to age-related physiological sensitivity, limited mobility, social isolation, and economic dependency, all of which constrain their capacity to anticipate, cope with, and recover from environmental stressors. Climate change intensifies extreme weather events such as heatwaves, floods, and storms, leading to increased morbidity and mortality among older adults. Concurrently, biodiversity loss undermines ecosystem services essential to elderly well-being, including food security, traditional medicinal resources, and mental health benefits derived from nature. Pollution further compounds these risks by aggravating chronic respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurological conditions that disproportionately affect aging populations. Despite these heightened vulnerabilities, elderly individuals also possess significant resilience shaped by accumulated life experience, social cohesion, cultural values, and traditional ecological knowledge. Recognizing and strengthening these resilience capacities is essential for effective and inclusive environmental governance.
Pratibha Koirala Pandit (Sun,) studied this question.