scholarly journals Planetary Health Ethics: Beyond First Principles

Challenges ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Foster ◽  
Jennifer Cole ◽  
Andrew Farlow ◽  
Ivica Petrikova
Keyword(s):  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Future Health ◽  
Transdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Planetary Health ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Health Community ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Operating Space

Planetary health is a transdisciplinary approach that aims to advance the understanding of the links between human-driven changes to the planet and their consequences, and to develop appropriate solutions to the challenges identified. This emerging movement has not yet agreed upon a code of ethics to underpin the rapidly expanding body of research being carried out in its name. However, a code of ethics might support the principles for planetary health set out in the Canmore Declaration of 2018. Phrases such as “Public Health 2.0”, “Human Health in an Era of Global Environmental Change”, or “A safe and just operating space for humanity” are often used in planetary health discussions, but are not always clearly defined and so far, the field lacks a strong guiding ethical framework. In this paper, we propose a starting point towards a code of ethics for planetary health that builds on the Canmore Declaration. We chose to propose 12 ethical principles in recognition of the need for a 12-Step Programme for the planet. The human race must identify and reject damaging behaviours. Evidence of the harm we are causing the planet is no longer enough and refraining from certain current practices is essential for Earth’s future health. We must motivate advocacy and calls for action. We believe a shared ethical code can act as a tool to enable and encourage that process. This paper is presented to the planetary health community as a starting point, not as a finished agenda. We welcome comments, critiques, additions and the opportunity to rework our approach accordingly.

Environmental Hazards, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction: J. K. Mitchell’s Relevance to the Global Sustainable Development Agenda

2016 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 1671006
Author(s):  
Juha I. Uitto
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Environmental Hazards ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Complex Disasters

This paper argues how Mitchell’s work on complex disasters and environmental hazards is highly relevant to the global Sustainable Development Agenda and the international organizations involved in its implementation. The paper takes as its starting point two United Nations University projects led by Mitchell in the 1990s and reviews their prescience in terms of current developments in the context of urbanizations, economic development, population growth, and global environmental change. The issue of adaptation to climate change is highlighted as exemplifying the importance of integrated approaches encompassing human and natural systems, as advocated by Mitchell. Challenges to program and policy evaluation are then discussed with regard to adaptation, adopting Mitchell’s approach of understanding local situations while anchoring evaluation in scientific knowledge.

scholarly journals Patient-Planetary Health Co-benefit Prescribing: Emerging Considerations for Health Policy and Health Professional Practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Redvers
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Health System ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Planetary Health ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Public Health Advocacy ◽  
Improve Patient

In addition to the importance of fostering and developing measures for better health-system resilience globally from the effects of climate change, there have been increasing calls for health professionals, as well as public health and medical education systems, to become partners in climate change mitigation efforts. Direct clinical practice considerations, however, have not been adequately fostered equitably across all regions with an often-confusing array of practice areas within planetary health and sustainable healthcare. This article calls for a more coordinated effort within clinical practice spaces given the urgency of global environmental change, while also taking lessons from Indigenous traditional knowledge systems—a viewpoint that is rarely heard from or prioritized in public health or medicine. Simpler and more coordinated messaging in efforts to improve patient and planetary health are needed. The creation of unifying terminology within planetary health-rooted clinical and public health practice has been proposed with the potential to bring forth dialogue between and within disciplinary offshoots and public health advocacy efforts, and within clinical and health-system policy spaces.

scholarly journals Indigenous Natural and First Law in Planetary Health

Challenges ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Nicole Redvers ◽  
Anne Poelina ◽  
Clinton Schultz ◽  
Daniel M. Kobei ◽  
Cicilia Githaiga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Planetary Health ◽  
Natural Laws ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Indigenous Paradigm ◽  
The Universe

Indigenous Peoples associate their own laws with the laws of the natural world, which are formally known as or translated as Natural or First Law. These laws come from the Creator and the Land through our ancestral stories and therefore, they are sacred. All aspects of life and existence depend on living and following these natural First Laws. Since colonization, Indigenous Peoples’ Natural Laws have been forcibly replaced by modern-day laws that do not take into account the sacred relationship between the Earth and all of her inhabitants. The force of societies who live outside of Natural Law has ensured the modern-day consequences of not living in balance with nature. Pandemics and global environmental change, including climate change, are all consequences of not following the Natural Laws that are encapsulated by the interconnected nature of the universe. Here we discuss Natural Law from an Indigenous paradigm and worldview which carries implications for planetary health and wider environmental movements around the globe.

scholarly journals Philanthrocapitalism: Promoting Global Health but Failing Planetary Health

Challenges ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Butler
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Planetary Health ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
The Face ◽  
Gates Foundation ◽  
The Relationship

Focusing on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) as a case study, this paper explores the relationship between philanthrocapitalism, economic history, and global and planetary health. The Wellcome Trust is also briefly discussed, chiefly in the context of planetary health. The paper argues that in the last 45 years there has been an increased preference for market-based approaches, often called neoliberalism, particularly in the U.S. and its allies. This has generated greater inequality in many high-income settings and weakened the norm of taxation. This has provided a setting in which philanthrocapitalism has flourished, including the BMGF. The latter has in turn become an important actor for global health, partially balancing the adverse consequences of neoliberalism. Planetary health is here defined as the interaction between global health and global environmental change, including to the climate and other elements of the Earth System. Although the Wellcome Trust has recently made funds available for ecological health research, it continues to invest in fossil fuels. The Gates Foundation provide no or minimal grants for ecological or planetary health but appear to have recently substantially divested from fossil fuels, for unclear reasons. The paper concludes that these large philanthrocapitalist organizations partly compensate for the decline in attention to global health driven by market-preferring solutions, but remain insufficiently proactive in the face of the great dangers associated with declining planetary health.

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