The ties between human health and our environment have been interwoven since the beginning of time. In fact, as our vulnerability to environmental fluctuations decreases with advances in agriculture and medicine, global health outcomes linked to them have greatly improved.
In parallel, much of the human and industrial activity that has enriched us in material ways and in our quality of life is also affecting the health of our planet, breaching critical boundaries. This sets up a dynamic that threatens not only the environment, but the basic social, economic, physical and political infrastructure that forms the bedrock of our civilization. The enmeshed nature of planetary, environmental, health, social and economic systems means that human and planetary health are inextricably linked.
Consider an increase in the prevalence of malaria as temperatures and rainfall rise in heavily settled regions. Or famines sparked by sudden changes in rainfall patterns. Or the collapse of fisheries –a key global food source – after acidification destroys coral reefs. These shifts stem from human activities that have pushed our air, soil and water beyond critical thresholds.
These limits were clearly articulated by the Stockholm Resilience Centre in 2009 as ‘Planetary Boundaries’. Breaching them has already triggered ocean acidification, ozone depletion, declining freshwater resources, biodiversity loss, chemical pollution and climate change. Scientists are now studying the links between surpassing these natural boundaries and new patterns in human health.
Indeed, a further shift in the trajectories of our natural world could impact planetary systems so severely that current forms of human civilization would be in jeopardy.
To advance a global conversation on these urgent issues, The Rockefeller Foundation, in partnership with British medical journal The Lancet and with the active participation of The Economist Intelligence Unit, is convening a high-level meeting on this topic in early July. Over 30 thought leaders from corporations, universities, governments, development banks, civil society and other global organisations will exchange diverse perspectives from their sector and seek insights that will help them develop strategies to address the threat from breaching planetary boundaries.
But we are a small group and the active and ongoing contribution of the global public will be essential to tackle the problem, and to come up with a broad range of realistic and sustainable alternatives to the way we live, work and move.
To this end, in the coming week, we are reaching out to you so that your insights flow into our conversation, and are acted upon.
Some of the participants in the July meeting, as well as other select thought leaders, have agreed to answer a few questions online to share their thinking on the links between the environment, planetary boundaries and human health. They are:
- Fred Boltz, managing director, Ecosystems, The Rockefeller Foundation
- Andy Haines, professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- Karin Ireton, director of sustainability, Standard Bank South Africa
- Sania Nishtar, founder and president, Heartfile and co-chair of the World Health Organization’s Commission to end Childhood Obesity
- Montira Pongsiri, an Environmental Protection Agency scientist, who studies the connections between environmental change and human health
How can we tackle threats to planetary boundaries and create a sustainable future?
Visionaries Unbound has laid the foundations for this critical debate and we invite you to join it. Do you have questions or answers? If so, we want to hear from you. Please submit your ideas below. We hope you will join us in this effort.
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited (EIU) or any other member of The Economist Group. The Economist Group (including the EIU) cannot accept any responsibility or liability for reliance by any person on this article or any of the information, opinions or conclusions set out in the article.
