Overview
Human health and planetary health are fundamentally interconnected. All human beings can, and do, affect the health of individuals, communities, ecosystems and the planet as a whole. Herein, climate change is recognized as a serious, worldwide public health concern. It is likely to increase health risks such as heat-related disorders, respiratory disorders and vector borne diseases and to accelerate the ecological and social disintegration connected to it. For individuals, aside from the direct health effects of pollution and changes in biodiversity, climate change and ecological global threats may lead to fear, depression or mental health problems. Global climate initiatives, such as those in Madrid or Paris, continuously fail to provide valuable solutions. In complement, young peoples’ movements, local initiatives and small action groups all over the world create microcosms of communities that produce real changes – even though limited to local coverage only.
These initiatives bear a twofold relevance: first, they promote individual and community health and second, they promote societal and cultural change in favor of planetary health.
The globally widespread initiatives on environment and climate change are numerous, various, and disconnected. By creating a common space for exchange and visibility, these local initiatives gain visibility and a global network. On an interactive web-portal (www.people-planet-health.com) local projects upload their tags, project stories and project descriptions in order to become visible, to connect with each other and to learn from each other. The website is linked and distributed by the Secretariat of IUHPE (International Union of Health Promotion and Education) that through its global networks guarantees a worldwide distribution. In a second phase, a position paper for the new WHO health promotion strategy will be written in a co-creation process of all initiatives of the project people-planet health.
