Gover­nan­ce for health within pla­ne­ta­ry boun­da­ries

Pla­ne­ta­ry health poli­ci­es sys­te­ma­ti­cal­ly con­sider their impact on both human health and natu­ral eco­sys­tems equal­ly. Fur­ther­mo­re, the con­cept pro­mo­tes poli­ti­cal decis­i­on-making that aims to mini­mi­se harm to peo­p­le and pla­net. A pla­ne­ta­ry health in all poli­ci­es (PHiaP) approach extends the con­cept of health in all poli­ci­es, an approach to public poli­ci­es that sys­te­ma­ti­cal­ly takes into account the health impli­ca­ti­ons of poli­ti­cal decis­i­ons and seeks to avo­id harmful health impacts in order to impro­ve popu­la­ti­on health and health equi­ty. PHiaP adds the noti­on that all poli­cy decis­i­ons should be taken with a view to enab­ling socie­ties to remain within safe eco­lo­gi­cal limits, also known as the nine pla­ne­ta­ry boun­da­ries. A PHiAP approach can enable both pla­net and peo­p­le to thri­ve within pla­ne­ta­ry boun­da­ries.

Many of the deter­mi­nants of health and health ine­qui­ties in popu­la­ti­ons have social, envi­ron­men­tal, and eco­no­mic ori­g­ins that extend bey­ond the direct influence of the health sec­tor and health poli­ci­es. Pla­ne­ta­ry health poli­cy builds on inter­sec­to­ral poli­cy aims, based on health in all poli­ci­es that impro­ve the social deter­mi­nants of health, while expli­cit­ly addres­sing the eco­lo­gi­cal degra­da­ti­on of the pla­net that threa­tens its habi­ta­bi­li­ty which ulti­m­ate­ly deter­mi­nes human health and sur­vi­val.

Out­co­mes of this work­stream will include con­cep­tu­al and ope­ra­tio­nal ana­ly­ses and poli­cy recom­men­da­ti­ons for the Ger­man poli­ti­cal con­text, e.g. in the domain of ener­gy, agri­cul­tu­ral and labour mar­ket tran­si­ti­ons.