13.3.2019, UN GEO6: “Human health in dire straits if urgent actions are not made to protect the environment”

The sixth UN Global Environment Outlook 6 (GEO6) was published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) today: UN Environment (2019): Global Environment Outlook – GEO-6: Healthy Planet, Healthy People. UNEP, Nairobi. DOI 10.1017/9781108627146, xxxiii + 708 pp., www.unenvironment.org/resources/global-environment-outlook-6

Press release (Nairobi, Kenya): Human health in dire straits if urgent actions are not made to protect the environment, warns landmark UN report. www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/human-health-dire-straits-if-urgent-actions-are-not-made-protect: The most comprehensive and rigorous assessment on the state of the environment completed by the UN in the last five years … highlights the fact that the world has the science, technology and finance it needs to move towards a more sustainable development pathway, although sufficient support is still missing from the public, business and political leaders who are clinging to outdated production and development models … At present the world is not on track to meet the SDGs by 2030 or 2050 … While urbanization is happening at an unprecedented level globally, the report says it can present an opportunity to increase citizens’ well-being while decreasing their environmental footprint through improved governance, land-use planning and green infrastructure … Policy interventions that address entire systems – such as energy, food, and waste – rather than individual issues … can be much more effective, according to the authors …

Report chapter 4: Cross-cutting issues [incl. human health]

Executive summary (emphases removed):

• Environmental pollution is still a major source of damage to the health of the planet (well established), human health (well established), equity (well established) and economic sustainability (established but incomplete) …
• The number of people affected by both slow and suddenonset environmental disasters is increasing due to compounding effects of multiple and interacting drivers (well established) …
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment are multipliers of sustainability (well established) …
• …
• Urban footprints have transboundary ramifications (well established) …
• Climate change is one of the most pressing issues affecting natural (well established) and human systems (established but incomplete) (SDG 13).
• …
• The food system is increasing local to global pressures on ecosystems and the climate (well established) …

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4.2 People and livelihoods

4.2.1 Health

… two long-established ways of reflecting the complex web of relationships between healthy planet and healthy people … One way is to define human health inclusively as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (… WHO … 1948) … The second way focuses on the determinants of health: it recognizes that human health is mediated by multiple factors in the natural, social and built environments, including our senses of equity and safety as well as equitable access to environmental resources and human contact with nature (WHO 2008) … Buse et al. (2018) identify six frameworks developed from late 20th century onward to show and deal with this complexity: political ecology of health, environmental justice, Ecohealth, One Health, Ecological Public Health, and Planetary Health. These frameworks represent a shift towards a more sophisticated understanding of the implicit, complex and systemic links between human health and well-being and the natural environment …

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… Solutions to the degradation of natural systems, including the management of environmental pollution at its sources, should take account of the complex interactions between planet and … and consider environment-health as a complex system, seeking co-benefits … , and … avoiding trade-offs or win-lose situations or unintended adverse consequences … There are now many examples of health co-benefits … For example, the … transition to cleaner energy improves air quality and slows climate change effects, each of which greatly benefits health and well-being … Active travel, such as walking and bicycling, can have multiple benefits for health and well-being … Reducing red meat intake … where there is high consumption … will improve human health … , while reducing pressure on biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions … The benefits to human health and well-being of access to safe and biodiverse natural environments, green and blue spaces, are being recognized … Rigorous … integration of human health considerations within health-determining sectoral plans (e.g. agriculture, water, disaster management, urban design) can support responses that address human health impacts … Initiatives to reduce environmental risks, focusing on benefits across sectors, are consistent with the World Health Organization’s … call for Health in All Policies (WHO 2014) and the development of tools for integrated environmental and health assessment (Fehr et al. 2016). The health sector must rapidly strengthen the way that it articulates messages on human health …

[Selected reference: Fehr R, Mekle, O, Hurley F, Mackenbach J (2016): Health impact assessment – a survey on quantifying tools. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 57 (February), pp.178–186, doi:10.1016/j.eiar.2016.01.001. See https://rfehr.eu/2016/01/27/14-jan-2016-paper-impact-quantification-accepted/ for paper and web appendices]

Global Environment Outlook (GEO), www.unenvironment.org/global-environment-outlook: often referred to as UN Environment’s flagship environmental assessment … first publication … in 1997 … fulfills the core functions of the organization, which date back to the UN General Assembly resolution that established the UN Environment Programme in 1972 … GEO … is a consultative and participatory process … also builds capacity for conducting integrated environmental assessments and reporting on the state, trends and outlooks of the environment … aims to facilitate the interaction between science and policy.

Based on GEO5 (2012) – UNEP & ICLEI (2012): GEO-5 For Local Government, www.unenvironment.org/resources/geo-5-local-government: … shows that pressures on the global environment affect the local level. Conversely, local decisions and responses can not only improve local conditions, but also significantly contribute to improving the state of the global environment … aims to make the findings … more relevant for local governance … highlights the role that local authorities can play in meeting internationally agreed goals and targets and in addressing local, regional and global environmental challenges.