Health in the Global Environmental Agenda: A Policy Guide
While there is growing awareness of the health impacts of environmental changes, joint action by the health and environment sectors is easier said than done.
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Nearly 25% of global deaths are attributed to economic decisions affecting the environment, but stakeholders from the health community are mostly unaware of—or not visible within— discussions and negotiations on global environmental policies. Little institutional capacity exists to address the environmental determinants of health outcomes and health inequities. A first step toward cohesive, comprehensive policies that protect both people and the planet is building that connection.
This is an insider’s landscape view to bringing health into the global environmental agenda. It is a technical guide on sustainable development focused on the health–environment nexus, written with the perspective that a microphone within the negotiations is more powerful than a megaphone at its margins.
Global governance hinges on the language embedded in its treaties. Policies change when language changes, terms are added, or issues are adopted. This work requires informed engagement and strategic entry points in global debates and decision-making bodies. Environmental treaties do not typically contain health provisions, which is a window of opportunity.
The world in 2022 faces:
- A triple planetary crisis of environmental degradation in the form of biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution.
- A Triple Billion global health burden of people lacking access to health care, needing enhanced protection from health emergencies, and falling behind health and wellbeing metrics.
These issues are inherently linked but remain legally and institutionally distinct. It is not enough to simply include “health considerations” in environmental decisions or for the health sector to merely attend a policy event. The health community must engage with—and be called upon to inform—global environmental processes. There is significant, unrealized value in the contributions from health stakeholders to driving and achieving strong global environmental agreements.
The merger between global environmental and health governance is not only intuitive—it is necessary. Decisions made in multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) must be relevant to health policy and should not compete with public health objectives, negatively impact health, or widen health inequities. Sound environmental policy-making can improve and expedite positive health outcomes.
Concrete opportunities exist to bring health experts with technical and diverse knowledge into targeted environmental policy discussions. This guide dissects the decision-making bodies, issues, and implementation frameworks of key MEAs using a health lens. Its purpose is to facilitate common understanding and build a bridge between the health and environmental sectors in global policy-making on sustainable development.
Written jointly by health and environmental policy experts, this document reviews and analyzes the global governance landscape for biodiversity, climate change, pollution, and food systems, with a view to informing policy and events beginning in 2022. This guide connects disciplines and expands expertise beyond traditional spheres and silos of work. In that way, it contributes to thinking at the true “nexus” of health and environment.
The Health-Environment Nexus: Key Considerations
Operationalizing integrated health–environment objectives into global policy and national work has been a long-standing challenge, but overlapping agendas and synergistic strategies are not out of reach. Across United Nations (UN) environmental agreements and organizations, there is value for those at the health–environment nexus in considering the following:
Environmental governance is health governance
Environmental agents can transform the footprint of health and health systems and change health outcomes.
Speaking the same language
Health professionals need to understand the architecture of global environmental agreements before they can influence how to change and enhance them.
Health science and environmental policy must interface
Data and decisions need to connect more clearly. The environmental science–policy interface needs the evidence-based experience of the health sector, and terminology must be harmonized.
National implementation is global implementation
A binding global treaty is only effective if countries fulfill its mandate. Health data is an important indicator for monitoring the effectiveness of environmental regimes.
Health actors are expert stakeholders
Most decision-making does not happen at the annual conferences. Health actors and organizations should participate in relevant intersessional bodies where substantive issues are discussed and prioritized, and health technical expertise is sorely needed.
Health considerations must inform planning
Guidelines on issues such as air and water quality, diet, and pollution should be reflected in environmental assessments and influence national plans for climate change, biodiversity, and other issues.
