Opinion

A call to action for the health sector on planetary health and a wellbeing society

A recent article in Healthy Debate discussed the relevance to the health sector of planetary boundaries, the ecological determinants of health and planetary health. Suffice it to say that we have crossed the planetary boundary for seven of the nine Earth systems considered to be “critical for maintaining the stability and resilience of Earth system as a whole.” As David Suzuki graphically put it recently, “if we pass one boundary, we should be shitting our pants.”

The health implications of this, presented in a Lancet article this past summer from some of the leading figures in the fields of planetary boundaries and planetary health states – unsurprisingly – that “destabilizing the Earth system is fundamentally threatening human health” and that “large-scale shifts in the Earth system can also destabilize human societies, with potentially severe and unforeseeable effects on a range of additional determinants of health.”

Given the health implications, the health sector has an obvious interest in these issues, stemming from our natural inclination – not to mention our ethical obligation – to protect and improve health. But it is clear that our responsibility goes well beyond identifying threats to health and preparing to manage the consequences. We also have a duty to prevent harm to the Earth systems that are our most fundamental determinants of health.

That preventive duty has two components.

The first, and in some ways the most obvious, is based on the growing realization that the health-care system itself is a major contributor to environmental harm. Considering that the health sector is roughly one-eighth of the entire Canadian economy, one part of that responsibility – its ethical duty to do no harm – is to reduce the sector’s own contribution to environmental harm, to become what I have called a “One Planet” health system. In doing so, the health sector can help lead the way toward a sustainable “One Planet” Canada.

But beyond that, we also have a responsibility as an influential and largely well-respected sector to join with others to try to move our society – in Canada and around the world – to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier path. A path that takes us toward what the World Health Organization, in its 2022 Geneva Charter for Well-being, calls a wellbeing society, one that is “committed to achieving equitable health now and for future generations without breaching ecological limits.”

And that is where the emerging Canadian Coalition for Planetary Health and a Wellbeing Society comes in.

This health sector coalition has emerged as a follow-up to an open letter from 38 national and provincial health organizations and 82 health professionals to Canada’s First Ministers on World Health Day 2022, when the theme was “Our Planet, Our Health.”

Since then, we have continued to build what is now called the Canadian Coalition for Planetary Health and a Wellbeing Society. We recognize that sustainable human existence and society depend on a symbiotic relationship between humans and the global environment. Our shared vision, grounded in an ethic of respect and reciprocity with nature, is that Canada and sovereign Indigenous Nations, provinces, territories and municipalities become a wellbeing society explicitly committed to improving all life while living within planetary boundaries.

This vision is rooted in a set of values that includes prioritizing an ecological perspective that values ecosystems and the biosphere as they provide the foundations for all life and health; valuing Indigenous knowledge and ways of being and their relationship with Mother Earth; and championing inter-generational justice and equity.

The mission of our coalition, then, is to rally the health sector in support of this vision and to join with other sectors working to create a wellbeing society. That means educating health professionals, politicians and the public about these issues, strengthening the capacity and increasing the resources for research on planetary health and advocating for a wellbeing society in partnership with others.

The coalition recognizes the importance of creating climate-resilient and sustainable health systems that help both people and the planet.

On the research side, for example, we have raised a concern that 25 years after its formation, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research does not have an institute dedicated to supporting research on health and the environment. In addition, we recognize the need for a new research council to support the inter-disciplinary research needed if we are to create a wellbeing society

The coalition recognizes the importance of creating climate-resilient and sustainable health systems that help both people and the planet. However, as there is already a Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care (CCGHC), our role is to advocate for support and the strengthening of the CCGHC and others in their work to create an ecologically sustainable health-care system.

The coalition recognizes that we need significant changes in the lifestyles and worldviews of Canadian citizens and institutions to ensure a healthy, functioning, wellbeing society for generations to come. Accordingly, the agenda is based on the action areas in the Geneva Charter for Well-being and involves societal action on:

  • Planetary health: Value, respect and nurture planet Earth and its ecosystems.
  • Societal wellbeing: Develop healthy public policy for the common good.
  • A wellbeing economy: Design an equitable economy that serves human development within planetary and local ecological boundaries.

This requires promoting transformative governance by putting sustainable and equitable wellbeing at the heart of governance and enacting the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People that provides guidance for the future health of all people, plants and animals.

For example, Canada and all its provinces and territories should follow the lead of Wales by passing a Wellbeing of Future Generations Act and appointing a Commissioner for Future Generations.

Membership in the Canadian Coalition for Planetary Health and a Wellbeing Society is open to health-sector organizations and individuals and others who wish to support the coalition in its work to mobilize the health sector in support of its vision. Organizations and individuals interested in becoming involved in the work of the coalition can contact me at Thancock@uvic.ca

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Authors

Trevor Hancock

Contributor

Dr. Trevor Hancock is a public health physician, a retired Professor of Public Health at UVic, and was a co-founder of both the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care.

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