Planetary Health: Protecting and Promoting Health in the Anthropocene Epoch
Introduction
- The talk will cover the following topics:
- The Anthropocene Epoch.
- Relevant History.
- Key findings from the Rockefeller Foundation Lancet Commission on Planetary Health.
- Thinking ecologically about health.
- Implications for biomedical science.
The Anthropocene Epoch
- A new epoch defined by Earth scientists.
- Human activities are changing Earth's systems.
- Climate change.
- Biodiversity loss.
- Ecosystem degradation.
Animation: Story of the Anthropocene
- Explores how one species (humans) changed the planet.
- Industrial Revolution: Fueled by coal and oil, leading to inventions and global spread.
- Great Acceleration (1950s): Globalization, marketing, tourism, and investments drove growth.
- Urbanization: Cities became engines of creativity.
- Improved Well-being: Health, wealth, security, and longevity improved for millions.
- Environmental Impact: Humans move more sediment than natural processes, manage land, and cause high greenhouse gas levels, temperature increases, ozone layer depletion, biodiversity loss, delta sinking, sea-level rise, and ocean acidification.
The Rockefeller Foundation Lancet Commission on Planetary Health
- Report title: Safeguarding Human Health in the Anthropocene Epoch.
- Commissioners: Experts from various disciplines worldwide.
- Built on previous work:
- One Health approach (health of humans, animals, and environment).
- Brundtland Commission (sustainable development).
Brundtland Commission
- World Commission on Environment and Development.
- Report: Our Common Future.
- Sustainable development concerns are founded in the health and well-being of current and future generations.
Tony McMichael
- First PhD graduate in epidemiology at Monash University.
- Book: Global Environmental Change and the Health of the Human Species.
- Understood big challenges early on.
Hippocrates
- Considered the father of medicine.
- Book: On Airs, Waters, and Places.
- Made ecological deductions about the relationship between living conditions and health.
- Reclaiming older understandings in our work
Indigenous Knowledge
- Waiora (Maori word for well-being and healthy waters).
- Theme for a conference in New Zealand.
- Planetary health is a foundational understanding in Indigenous spiritual and cultural practices.
Findings from the Lancet Commission
- Human population healthier now than ever before.
Life Expectancy
- Increased globally from the low 50s to the low 70s between 1960 and 2010.
- Inequities remain, with lower life expectancy in Africa and South Central/West Asian regions.
Planetary Exploitation
- Health improvements have come at the cost of unprecedented planetary exploitation.
Factors
- Escalating carbon dioxide emissions.
- Ocean acidification.
- Energy use.
- Global deforestation.
- Water use.
- Fertilizer use.
- Planetary Health Definition: Safeguarding current and future generations' health through stewardship of Earth's natural systems and rethinking how we feed, move, house, power, and care for the world.
- Boyden's Biosensitivity Triangle: The relationships between our actions, human health, and planetary health.
- Central Circle: How we manage ourselves to leave no one behind.
- Culture/Mindset: Values, education, regulations, rules, and laws.
- Economic System: Transition from wasteful consumption to a circular economy.
- Five Pathways for Rethinking Transitions: Examples of changes needed.
- Feed the World: Sustainable agri-food systems.
- Move the World: Sustainable transport systems.
- House the World: Sustainable housing for people and animals, workplaces, and industries.
- Power the World: Urgent transition to renewable energy.
- Care for the World: Reducing the environmental footprint of the healthcare system and caring for nature.
- Bottom Line: Our future depends on the health of the natural world, which needs to be front of mind in decision-making.
Implications for Biomedical Science
- Five key points:
- Eco-social Approach: Recognize ecological, economic, and social determinants of health alongside biomedical approaches.
- Systems Thinking: Acknowledge the interdependence of all species, including microorganisms.
- Intergenerational Health Equity: Consider our legacy and its impact on future generations.
- Indigenous and Local Knowledge: Value these knowledge systems through a transdisciplinary approach.
- Planetary Consciousness: Bring awareness of planetary implications to health research, education, policy, and practice.
- Anthropocene: Need to consider the implications of our choices and behaviors on the health of natural systems.
Human Ecology
- Understanding patterns of human health alongside epidemiology.
- Stephen Boyden's work: All human activities have potential positive or negative impacts on our health.
- Behavioral risk factors for health and social determinants of health, with the addition of environmental impacts.
- Ecological Determinants: New term acknowledging environmental changes and their flow-on impacts on health.
- Systems Thinking: Recognizing unintended consequences and feedbacks.
Professional Efforts
- Editorial board for the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) is bringing attention to environmental issues.
- MJA Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change:
- Annual report since 2018 (downscaled from The Lancet in London).
- Tracks indicators related to weather-related disasters, landscape fires, and heat stress.
- Healthcare has a significant environmental footprint.
- Australian healthcare: 7% of all Australia's emissions (2018).
- Global assessment of the environmental footprint of healthcare.
- Need for health professionals to reduce the environmental footprint of their own work.
Climate Change in Australia's Healthcare Systems
- Review of literature, policy, and practice led by Monash University and the Climate and Health Alliance.
- Four components:
- Rapid systematic review of health systems responding to climate change.
- Policy and institutional analysis of climate and health policymaking.
- Case studies from local levels.
- Economic analysis using the health burden from bushfires.
- Report freely available online.
Defining Planetary Health
- The health of human civilization and the state of the natural systems on which it depends.
- Definition used in the Lancet Commission.
Links Between Environmental Change and Health
- Schema from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005).
- Escalating human pressures on the global environment.
- Environmental changes and ecosystem impairments (climate change, ozone depletion, forest clearance, land degradation, biodiversity loss, freshwater depletion, urbanization, damage to coral reefs).
- Health effects:
- Direct health effects (floods, heat waves, bushfires, water shortages, pollution).
- Ecosystem-mediated health effects (alterations to infectious disease risk, reduced food yields, depletion of natural medicines, mental health consequences).
- Indirect, deferred, and displaced health effects (loss of livelihoods, displacement of people, conflict, inappropriate adaptation and mitigation).
Findings from the Lancet Commission
- Effects of multiple environmental changes on food availability and quality.
- Climate change, land degradation, water scarcity, loss of pollinators, overfishing, and ocean acidification.
- Air pollution.
- More than 7 million air pollution-related deaths worldwide annually (ambient particulate pollution and household-level pollution).
- Emerging diseases.
- H5N1, SARS, Ebola, Zika, and the current pandemic.
- Spillover of pathogens from wild animals to domestic animals to people.
- Occurs in the context of environmental and social change (climate change, urbanization, forest clearance).
- Accelerated rates of emergence of new pathogens.