Event
Climate Change and Mental Health Perspectives from the Global South: Experiences and perspectives from the Philippines
The aftermath of Super Typhoon Odette in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, Philippines. Photo: Carl Kho/Unsplash
Date: June 9, 2025
On 9 June 2025, join SLU Urban Futures and the department of environmental psychology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) for a lecture by Dr. John Jamir Benzon R. Aruta (De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines) titled ‘Climate change and mental health nexus in the Global South: Experiences and perspectives from the Philippines’.
About the lecture
This 1-hour lecture focuses on the mental health impacts of climate change in the Philippines, one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. Using Global South and climate justice perspectives, the lecture looks into how climate injustice is linked with the disproportionate impacts of the climate crisis on people in the Philippines, and its mental health implications. The session also showcases the efforts to build a community of practice for climate change and mental health intersection in the country.
After the lecture, there will be a networking social space with fika where researchers and others interested are invited to meet Dr. Aruta, exchange ideas, and discuss possibilities for future collaboration.
Please note that the lecture will be held in a hybrid format, in-person and via Zoom.
About the speaker:
Dr. John Jamir Benzon R. Aruta is an Associate Professor at De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines. Dr. Aruta is the inaugural director of the Sustainability Psychology and Planetary Health Research Laboratory (SPPHERE Lab) — a group of environmentally concerned students and professionals that work on research, advocacy, community building, and policy collaboration. He is Associate Editor of Global Environmental Psychology and a member of the Editorial Board of BMC Psychology and Nature Communications Psychology.
His research program includes:
- the application of psychology principles in promoting environmental sustainability
- the interface between climate change and mental health in the Global South context
- planetary health
- the mental health of neglected and marginalized populations.