Islamabad - A report on Planetary Health has called for immediate global action to protect the health of human civilisation and the natural systems on which it depends.
The report ‘Safeguarding Human Health in the Anthropocene Epoch’ provides the first ever comprehensive examination of evidence showing how the health and well-being of future generations is being jeopardised by the unprecedented degradation of the planet’s natural resources and ecological systems.
The report by The Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission that has been globally launched before it was shared in Pakistan with environmentalists, researchers, health professionals, development partners and policymakers with a view to exploring the report’s analysis and recommendations and their relevance for the country.
The report was written by a Commission of 15 leading academics and policymakers from institutions in eight countries, including Dr Sania Nishtar, President Heartfile Pakistan. It demonstrates how human activity and development have pushed to near breaking point the boundaries of the natural systems that support and sustain human civilisation. The report says that Pakistan is facing threats to the health and development of millions of people from a combination of adverse environmental trends and a high population growth rate of nearly 2 per cent per annum.
The Commission warns that a rising population, unsustainable consumption and the over-use of natural resources will exacerbate these health challenges in the future. The world’s poorest communities will be among those at greatest risk, as they live in areas that are most strongly affected and have greater sensitivity to disease and poor health.
“The health of people, nations, and the planet are deeply interconnected, therefore the complex interdependencies in public policy implementation” said Dr. Sania Nishtar while speaking at the launch. “We need a new paradigm of governance to promote collaborative inter-sectorial action for solving ‘sectorial’ objectives. Intermediary agencies skilled to convene, instruments for asset allocations mappings; incentives for collaborative division of labor and metrics for the whole of the government performance assessment are needed now more than ever,” she stressed.
After 18 Amendment there were no linkages even between the provincial and the federal health departments, remarked Minister of National Health Services Regulations & Coordination Saira Afzal Tarar. Underscoring the need to have inter-sectorial collaborations between various ministries, she announced to appoint a focal person for planetary health in the national health ministry.”We are on the verge of triggering irreversible, global effects, ranging from ocean acidification to biodiversity loss,” said Sir Andy Haines, Chair of the commission. “These environmental changes - which include but extend far beyond climate change - threaten the gains in health that have been achieved over recent decades and increase the risks to health arising from major challenges as diverse as under-nutrition and food insecurity, freshwater shortages, emerging infectious diseases, and extreme weather events,” she added.
The findings and recommendations of the report are crucial for Pakistan in the wake of recent floods, heatwaves, and other natural disasters, he added. The Commission outlines a range of beneficial policies and actions that can be taken by governments, international organisations, researchers, health professionals and citizens that are good for both health and the environment. Examples include benefits from reduced air pollution, healthy diets with more fruit and vegetables, active transport (walking and cycling), reduced urban heat stress from green spaces, and increased resilience to coastal flooding from intact wetlands and mangroves. In addition, the report identifies some major gaps in evidence and the research that is needed.
Solutions to these clear and potent dangers are within reach, say the Commission authors, but the world needs to take decisive, coordinated action to protect the environment and secure the health of future generations. It calls for integrated social, economic and environmental policies, Better governance, improved health systems, a re-organisation and expansion of our knowledge on Planetary Health.