Mental health problems induced, in part, by climate change are becoming increasingly common as the world warms, including the number of people experiencing “ecological grief”.
Ecological grief is one of the emotional responses seen in those living with the impacts of climate change-induced extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts or heatwaves.
In addition to crop failures due to extreme weather, individuals can experience ecological grief in response to declining yields and other changes, particularly where this directly impacts their lives and livelihoods.
This is particularly true of those in the global south, who are disproportionately affected by climate change, despite historically contributing less to the problem.
In a recent study of farmers in the Upper West Region of Ghana, I looked at how the grief caused by ecological loss can manifest in multiple ways, including causing mental health and psychosocial problems ranging from emotional distress to anxiety, depression, helplessness, hopelessness and sadness.
This research shows the potential for including ecological grief and other mental health impacts in the strategies of countries – especially those in the global south – looking for ways to adapt to climate change.
What is ecological grief?
As people increasingly live with the impact of climate change, research has tried to identify the impact it has on people’s lives.
For example, people who have been exposed to life-threatening extreme climate events are at a considerable risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder as a result. Symptoms of this include flashbacks of the event, increased reactivity and avoidance of cues to the memory of the event.
In addition to this, several new concepts for climate change-induced distress have been introduced, to describe the long-term emotional consequences of anticipated or actual environmental changes.
Ecological grief refers to the mourning of ecological losses, including loss of species, ecosystems and meaningful landscapes, often shaped by acute or chronic ecological change.
The concept explains grief experienced in response to actual or anticipated losses in the natural world. This mourning of the loss of ecosystems, landscapes, species and ways of life has become a frequent lived experience for people around the world.
In 2018, a study published in Nature provided a conceptual clarification and understanding of climate change-induced ecological grief. It highlighted the implications of climate change-induced ecological loss on the mental health and wellbeing of people, as well as how people respond to ecological change that has both direct and indirect effects on the natural environment.
Ecological grief provides a conceptual understanding of the lived experiences of people who retain close living, working and cultural relationships to the natural environment.
Most of these people depend almost exclusively on the natural environment for livelihood needs, such as smallholder farmers who live in poor communities in the global south.
Research gap
Despite the effects of climate change on people in the global south, there is a dearth of understanding of ecological grief within the context of developing countries.
As such, paying closer attention to climate change-driven ecological grief within the context of developing countries could inform the design of climate change response strategies, decision-making, policies and interventions at the local level.
My current research aims to understand the lived experiences of climate change-induced ecological grief in the Upper West Region, Ghana’s most climate-vulnerable region.
It identifies climate change-induced ecological losses and how farmers in the region emotionally respond to those losses. The work highlights different non-economic experiences of climate change effects, focusing on emotional and mental health dimensions, which remain a relatively unexplored area.
Ecological grief in Ghana
Farmers’ understanding of ecological grief revolves around their emotional response to the loss of their livelihoods. This reaffirms farmers’ strong connection to their environment, on which their livelihoods are predicated.
First, farmers grieve the loss of their crops to extreme climate events, such as floods, droughts, heatwaves and climate-induced pests. The grief associated with the loss of crops has almost become perennial, as these extreme climate events have become more frequent.
In interviews undertaken as part of the research, farmers compared the feeling of losing their crops with the emotional pain of losing a loved one.
Second, farmers grieve the disappearance of their indigenous seeds and genetic resources.
Local seeds have been replaced with drought-resistant seed varieties, which farmers are encouraged to adopt to provide resilience in the face of the increasing impact of climate change.
Interview responses demonstrate that the adoption of the new seeds is causing the loss of farmers’ own seed varieties, which can be freely saved, exchanged and reused yearly. With the adoption of new seed varieties, farmers are losing their genetic resources and the culture associated with it. This is becoming a great source of worry and grief for farmers in the Upper West Region of Ghana, the research shows.
Third, farmers grieve the loss of their traditional ecological knowledge that was passed down to them by previous generations. This knowledge includes their ability to predict weather patterns, know farming seasons, determine soil types, know crop varieties and select seeds, among many other areas.
Without this knowledge system, farmers cannot practice agriculture as they have done in previous generations. The culture, values, norms and beliefs of farmers are tied to their traditional ecological knowledge, which often manifests through practice.
My research suggests that farmers are no longer able to predict weather patterns and farming seasons, an emerging trend that makes them feel as though they have lost their wisdom. This makes them worry.
Another source of grief for farmers is their inability to pass on their traditional ecological knowledge to their children, the research shows. This is because their ecological knowledge is becoming worthless as a result of climate change.
Way forward
My research explored ecological grief, an under-explored area of climate change-induced mental health problems in developing countries.
Indeed, farmers in developing countries are vulnerable to prolonged mental health problems if extreme climate events continue.
Moreover, a lack of alternative livelihoods and access to mental health services greatly increases farmers’ vulnerability to climate change-induced mental health problems.
This is compounded by a social culture that prohibits help-seeking.
Further research within these spaces would enable the design of targeted strategies and the provision of mental health services in rural areas.
The post Guest post: How climate change is causing ‘ecological grief’ for farmers in Ghana appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Guest post: How climate change is causing ‘ecological grief’ for farmers in Ghana
Climate Change
“Sink or swim”: WA Gov hugely underestimating decline in regional gas demand while sleeping on green exports, new report finds
PERTH, Tuesday 13 October 2026 — A new report from Greenpeace Australia Pacific and Springmount Advisory reveals green commodity exports are an untapped economic opportunity for Western Australia in a declining Asian gas market, while offering a genuine solution for decarbonising Asia.
From Gas to Green: Building Western Australia’s Future State is a comprehensive analysis of the declining gas market in Asia, and the untapped economic opportunity for WA to become a global leader in green commodity exports while driving the regional shift away from fossil fuels.
The report offers key recommendations for the WA Government to support regional decarbonisation through an orderly phase out of gas exports in favour of green iron and other green exports. It comes as global climate leaders from across business, politics and advocacy prepare to meet for the Global Citizen Now: Perth event focused on decarbonising WA.
Key findings:
- Gas demand is falling across WA’s core markets in Asia: Gas demand fell in 2025 and is projected to continue to decline, driven by a combination of global geopolitical factors and domestic concerns.
- Policy shifts in key markets since the war on Iran now prioritise renewables and nuclear over gas: Japan, South Korea and China have legislated energy plans that prioritise renewables and nuclear over gas.
- New WA gas would arrive in a saturated, uncertain Asian market filled with cheaper gas: The US is now the world’s largest liquefied gas producer and plans to double its capacity as it also targets Asian markets.
- Green commodities offer a real solution to sustain WA’s economy: WA can lead Australia’s green commodity exports, which by 2060 could be worth almost a trillion dollars.
- Exporting more WA gas is likely to delay or impede Asia decarbonisation: Despite claims by the gas industry, there is no evidence that WA gas is displacing coal in Asia, and in fact diverts resources from genuine decarbonisation options.
Geoff Bice, WA Campaign Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific said: “As our export partners in Asia shift away from expensive and polluting gas, the WA Government has a golden opportunity to pivot our economy to green exports, like green iron, which is the most effective way to help our region to decarbonise.
“The writing is on the wall: gas is in decline, renewables are our future. In this context, it makes zero sense for the government to encourage high risk projects like Woodside’s reckless Browse gas proposal at Scott Reef.
“This report clearly shows that the WA Government faces a choice: sink or swim. They can either allow the gas industry to keep ripping off West Australians and continue propping up its decline, or choose the path that will deliver enormous benefits to the state and the world by becoming a leader in the rapidly expanding green economy.”
Tom Quinn, Managing Director of Springmount Advisory: “Western Australia prospers when it looks to the future and builds for future demand. Twenty years from now, what the world needs is green commodities made using WAs abundant renewable resources. Just like it did with iron ore in the 1950s and gas in the 1970s, WA should look to the future and build what the world will need, not sunsetting industries like gas that are already past their peak.”
-ENDS-
Media contact
Kate O’Callaghan on 0406 231 892 or kate.ocallaghan@greenpeace.org
Lucy Keller on 0491 135 308 or lucy.keller@greenpeace.org
A report from Greenpeace Australia Pacific and Springmount Advisory reveals the untapped green economic opportunity for Western Australia in a declining Asian gas market, which also offers a genuine solution for decarbonisation in Asia.
Is Western Australia clinging to a fading gas industry while a thriving green future passes it by? As major Asian trading partners rapidly pivot away from volatile gas imports toward cheap solar and battery storage, this report exposes a high-stakes choice: risk becoming stranded in an oversupplied fossil fuel market, or harness WA’s unmatched sun and wind to lead the global clean energy transition.
Summary
From Gas to Green: Building Western Australia’s Future State reveals that Western Australia (WA) faces a critical juncture as falling Asian gas demand, geopolitical gas supply volatility and accelerating renewable energy deployment undermine the long-term economic viability of gas exports. By harnessing its world-class wind and solar resources, the report demonstrates that WA can execute an orderly phase-out of gas and pioneer a green commodity export economy that could generate $987 billion in economic value by 2060, create 24,000 ongoing jobs, and drive a 9.6% reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions.
Key Findings
- Gas demand is falling in Asia – WA can no longer rely on gas exports: Gas demand in core Asian markets fell in 2025 and is projected to continue to decline in 2026. Legislated energy plans in Japan, South Korea, and China now prioritise renewables and nuclear over gas.
- Asia is increasing renewables, importing gas just gets in the way: Evidence from markets like Thailand suggests that gas imports are increasingly crowding out cheaper renewable energy investments and battery storage rather than displacing coal, locking in more emissions over time.
- Green commodities offer a real solution to decarbonise Asia – this is a major win for WA: With world-class renewables, WA can lead Australia’s green commodity exports, which by 2060 could be worth almost a trillion dollars ($987 billion) and support a genuine 9.6% reduction in global emissions.
Recommendations to WA government
Recommendation 1: Plan an orderly gas phase-out aligned with a trading partner pivot plan
Implement a managed, orderly phase-out of gas exports aligned with trading partners’ decarbonisation pathways, rather than waiting for demand to collapse, by:
- Developing and implementing a staged phase-out of gas facilities aligned with feedstock supply expiry or typical end of facility lifespans.
- Committing to no new gas development for gas expansion, including Browse and Kimberley fields.
- Developing new, reciprocal trade relationships with existing gas trade partners, structured to progressively replace gas exports with green commodities – integrated with recommendation 2.
Recommendation 2: Develop an integrated green commodity export strategy, positioning WA as a global green iron manufacturing hub
Establish an integrated green commodity export strategy that immediately prioritises green iron development, positioning WA as a global green iron manufacturing hub, by:
- Committing to green commodity export targets to give industry and investors a clear demand signal.
- Prioritising green iron as the lead sector within the broader green commodity strategy, given WA’s iron ore endowment and first-mover potential.
Recommendation 3: Reject false solutions such as carbon dumping (CCS) and blue hydrogen
Reject carbon dumping (also described as carbon capture and storage, or CCS) and blue hydrogen as viable decarbonisation technologies, and prioritise green hydrogen and proven renewables for clean energy and fuel production by:
- Excluding blue hydrogen projects (and CCS-dependent projects) from all government support programs.
- Requiring existing hydrogen-based production (including ammonia, methanol, synthetic fuels) to have clear, near-term transition timelines to switch to green hydrogen production.
What you can do
Together, we can push for a prosperous green future.
You can help by:
- Sending an email to Environment Minister Murray Watt and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, calling on them to reject Browse.
- Sharing this story to help more Australians understand what’s at stake.
- Encouraging your friends and family to take action.
REPORT: “From Gas to Green” Building Western Australia’s Future State
Cleaner cooking projects in the UN carbon market will have to set aside a share of their credits to insure against the risk that the trees they save are lost to fire, drought or logging, after the market’s regulator rejected calls to exempt the sector.
The requirement is part of a new rulebook that the Paris Agreement carbon market regulator – the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body – approved last Friday for programmes that aim to cut emissions by distributing new and cleaner cookstoves in regions that still burn wood or charcoal for cooking.
These are the UN mechanism’s first rulebooks for cookstoves, one of the carbon market’s most popular credit types and also one of its most criticised for overstating climate benefits.
They consist of two methodologies: one for programmes that aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions by distributing more efficient cookstoves that burn less wood or charcoal, and a separate methodology for projects shifting households to lower-emissions cookers running on electricity or liquid petroleum gas (LPG).
Mkhuthazi Steleki, the South African chair of the Supervisory Body, said “this decision gives cleaner cooking projects a new pathway under the UN carbon market, with clear rules to ensure that each credit represents a real and credible emission reduction”.
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Exemption push rejected
More efficient cookstove projects earn credits based on the amount of carbon they save by preserving trees that would have otherwise been cut down and burned for fuel. But if those trees later burn in a wildfire or are logged, the carbon stored would be released anyway, erasing the climate benefits of the credits.
Several carbon credit developers, conservation NGOs and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) disputed that cookstove projects face this risk, in what critics described as a “coordinated lobbying campaign”.
They argued that, unlike forest protection schemes, this type of credit represents a “flow” of avoided emissions rather than a “stock” of stored carbon that can be released. They also warned that requiring a buffer would impose disproportionate costs and undermine the financial viability of these activities.
But the UN carbon market regulator was not persuaded by the argument. It decided that projects would have to protect against this reversal risk by handing over a percentage of credits to a so-called “buffer pool” instead of selling them.
‘New paradigm’
The amount of credits to be given up is calculated by applying different methods for natural risks, like wildfires, droughts or hurricanes, and human-caused ones, such as logging or land clearing.
For natural risks, project developers will need to apply local risk values derived from new modelling published by a group of independent scientists.
Campaigners have broadly welcomed the decision. Federica Dossi, an expert at Brussels-based advocacy group Carbon Market Watch, said it sets a new paradigm for calculating reversal risk based on empirical data. “This approach is grounded in science and we hope to see this now being adopted by other carbon crediting mechanisms in the voluntary market,” she added.
Backers claim this method is more rigorous than current practice in the voluntary carbon market, which largely relies on expert guesswork.
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