Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in cities around the globe demanding the world take action against the rising threats of climate change. On Tuesday, leaders converged on the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Summit to make concrete commitments to mitigate climate change and build resilience.
Meanwhile, the Ebola virus continues to spread across large swaths of West Africa, a tragic example of how under-resourced national health systems can lack the capacity to contain a disease outbreak. The World Health Organization recently predicted the death toll could rise as high as 20,000, while officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned the toll could grow even higher.
On first glance, the two events might not seem related. But the link between climate change and human health has become ever clearer in recent years. From pollution and ocean acidification to declining freshwater resources and the loss of biodiversity, these trends are not only causing changing patterns of known diseases. They are raising the likelihood that new, unknown diseases will emerge. And on a planet undergoing rapid changes due to population growth, economic development, environmental degradation and climate change, the emergence of a disease in any one place is no longer a local issue but a global concern.
As the U.N. Secretary General’s Climate Summit this week calls for greater action, it is critical to understand that climate change has both immediate and future consequences for human health. Already today we are seeing threats to health that range from waterborne diseases in degraded, polluted watersheds to the emergence of novel diseases transmitted from wildlife. Grave future threats include changes in temperature and rainfall patterns that can result in the spread of diseases, such as malaria, dengue, and West Nile virus, to higher latitudes and shifting altitudes. And rising CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere may cause substantial declines in the nutritional content of key crops.
Scientists and policy makers are calling for deeper and broader research and responses on the interactions between human health and the rapidly changing planetary environment, and there is a rising awareness that tackling these challenges may require radical new approaches, new ways of thinking and, perhaps even an entirely new discipline around the idea of planetary health. The Rockefeller Foundation is working with the medical journal The Lancet to escalate attention to this potential new field.
Planetary health offers a bold new framework for thinking about the interconnections between the health of our planet and the resilience of our ecosystems in an era of globalization, urbanization, and climate change. Consider the trajectory: from the field of “medicine” to the evolution over the past century of “public health,” and onward to the more recent conceptions of “international health” and “global health,” each shift from one conceptual framework to another has meant fundamental changes in the way the world takes on its most pressing health challenges. In the last century, for example, the creation of the modern field of public health involved huge changes in public policy, the creation of new government agencies and programs, transformations in training and radical changes in public expectations. Now, with massive ecological and environmental changes underway, the time has come to consider planetary health and how we organize our efforts to support it.
The frame of planetary health would fill important gaps not yet recognized within the framework of global health. For example, global health does not fully take into account the effects on human health of changes in the natural foundation on which human beings live: the planet itself. And it does not take stock of our civilization’s capacity to change our environment and then suffer potentially drastic health consequences.
By applying instead a planetary health lens, we could begin to answer large and vital questions. What risks does our civilization face, and how will we identify them? Are we living through a key transition for our species and civilization, and how will we know if we are? What will determine human health, sustainability and resilience in the face of environmental and planetary dangers?
The addition of human and planetary health priorities to our fight against climate change is a bold – but necessary – step. We must integrate the health of the world’s ecosystems and the health of its people. Because, in the words painted on a sign spotted in this weekend’s New York Climate March, “There is no Planet-B.”
More Must-Reads From TIME
- Meet the 2024 Women of the Year
- Greta Gerwig's Next Big Swing
- East Palestine, One Year After Train Derailment
- The Closers: 18 People Working to End the Racial Wealth Gap
- Long COVID Doesn’t Always Look Like You Think It Does
- Column: The New Antisemitism
- The Best Romantic Comedies to Watch on Netflix
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Mwezi uliopita, maelfu ya watu walichukua mitaani kote duniani wakidai dunia ichukue hatua dhidi ya hatari ya mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa. Machi 11, viongozi wa mataifa ya Ulaya waliungana katika mkutano wa wakuu wa Umoja wa Mataifa wa hali ya hewa ili kufanya ahadi za dhati za kupunguza mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa na kujenga uwezo wa kukabiliana na hali hiyo. "Virus ya Ebola inaendelea kuenea katika sehemu kubwa za Afrika Magharibi, mfano wa kusikitisha wa jinsi mifumo ya afya ya kitaifa isiyo na rasilimali inaweza kukosa uwezo wa kuzuia mlipuko wa ugonjwa huo. """ Shirika la Afya Duniani (WHO) limesema idadi ya watu waliokufa katika janga hilo inaweza kufikia 20,000, huku maafisa wa kituo cha Marekani cha kudhibiti na kuzuia magonjwa (CDC) wakionya kuwa idadi hiyo inaweza kuongezeka zaidi. Kwa mtazamo wa kwanza, matukio hayo mawili huenda yakaonekana kuwa hayana uhusiano. Lakini uhusiano kati ya mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa na afya ya binadamu umekuwa wazi zaidi katika miaka ya hivi karibuni. Kuanzia uchafuzi wa mazingira na kuongezeka kwa asidi ya bahari hadi kupungua kwa rasilimali za maji baridi na upotezaji wa utofauti wa kibiolojia, mwenendo huu hausababishi tu mabadiliko ya mifumo ya magonjwa yanayojulikana. Inaongeza uwezekano wa magonjwa mapya yasiyojulikana kutokea. Katika dunia ambayo inabadilika haraka kwa sababu ya ongezeko la idadi ya watu, maendeleo ya kiuchumi, uharibifu wa mazingira na mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa, kuibuka kwa ugonjwa mahali popote sio suala la ndani bali ni wasiwasi wa ulimwengu. Mkutano wa Umoja wa Mataifa wa hali ya hewa wiki hii unaomba hatua kubwa, ni muhimu kuelewa kwamba mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa yana matokeo ya haraka na ya baadaye kwa afya ya binadamu. Tayari leo tunaona vitisho kwa afya ambavyo vinatofautiana kutoka kwa magonjwa yanayopitishwa na maji katika mabwawa ya maji yaliyoharibiwa na kuchafuliwa hadi kuibuka kwa magonjwa mapya yanayopitishwa na wanyama wa porini. Hatari kubwa za baadaye ni pamoja na mabadiliko katika hali ya joto na mifumo ya mvua ambayo inaweza kusababisha kuenea kwa magonjwa kama malaria, homa ya deni, na virusi vya Nile Magharibi, kwa latitudo za juu na mabadiliko ya urefu. Kuongezeka kwa viwango vya CO2 katika anga kunaweza kusababisha kupungua kwa kiasi kikubwa kwa virutubisho vya mazao muhimu. Wanasayansi na watunga sera wanahitaji utafiti wa kina na pana na majibu juu ya mwingiliano kati ya afya ya binadamu na mazingira ya sayari yanayobadilika haraka, na kuna ufahamu unaoongezeka kwamba kukabiliana na changamoto hizi kunaweza kuhitaji mbinu mpya za kufikiri, njia mpya za kufikiri, na labda hata nidhamu mpya kabisa karibu na wazo la afya ya sayari. Rockefeller Foundation inafanya kazi na jarida la kitiba The Lancet ili kuongeza umakini kwa uwanja huu mpya wa uwezekano. "Usalama wa sayari hutoa mfumo mpya wa ujasiri wa kufikiria uhusiano kati ya afya ya sayari yetu na uvumilivu wa mifumo yetu ya ikolojia katika enzi ya utandawazi, mijini, na mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa. """ "Kutoka kwa uwanja wa ""dawa"" hadi mageuzi ya karne iliyopita ya ""afya ya umma"" na kuendelea hadi dhana za hivi karibuni za ""afya ya kimataifa"" na ""afya ya ulimwengu,"" kila mabadiliko kutoka kwa mfumo mmoja wa dhana hadi mwingine yamemaanisha mabadiliko ya msingi katika njia ambayo ulimwengu unachukua changamoto zake za afya." Katika karne iliyopita, kwa mfano, uundaji wa uwanja wa kisasa wa afya ya umma ulihusisha mabadiliko makubwa katika sera za umma, uundaji wa mashirika na programu mpya za serikali, mabadiliko katika mafunzo na mabadiliko makubwa katika matarajio ya umma. Sasa, na mabadiliko makubwa ya ikolojia na mazingira yanayoendelea, wakati umefika wa kuzingatia afya ya sayari na jinsi tunavyoandaa juhudi zetu kuunga mkono. Mfumo wa afya ya sayari ungejaza mapungufu muhimu ambayo bado hayajatambuliwa ndani ya mfumo wa afya ya kimataifa. Kwa mfano, afya ya ulimwengu haizingatii kikamilifu athari kwa afya ya binadamu ya mabadiliko katika msingi wa asili ambao wanadamu wanaishi: sayari yenyewe. Na haichukui uwezo wa ustaarabu wetu wa kubadilisha mazingira yetu na kisha kuteseka matokeo ya afya ambayo yanaweza kuwa makubwa. Kwa kutumia lensi ya afya ya sayari badala yake, tunaweza kuanza kujibu maswali makubwa na muhimu. Utamaduni wetu unakabili hatari gani, na tutazitambuaje? Je, tunaishi katika kipindi muhimu cha mabadiliko kwa spishi na ustaarabu wetu, na tutajuaje ikiwa tuko hivyo? Ni nini kitakachoamua afya ya binadamu, uendelevu na uvumilivu katika kukabiliana na hatari za mazingira na sayari? Kuongeza vipaumbele vya afya ya binadamu na sayari kwa mapambano yetu dhidi ya mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa ni hatua ya ujasiri <unk> lakini muhimu <unk>. Ni lazima tuunganishe afya ya mifumo ya ikolojia ya ulimwengu na afya ya watu wake. "Wakati wa maandamano ya hali ya hewa ya New York, ""Hakuna sayari B"" ilichapishwa kwenye ishara ya ""Hakuna sayari B"" na ""Hakuna sayari B"" na ""Hakuna sayari B"" na ""Hakuna sayari B"" na ""Hakuna sayari B"" na ""Hakuna sayari B"" na ""Hakuna sayari B.""" Jisajili kwa Worth Wakati wako