Using the same expressions as were used in this project, we could summarise the concept of Planetary Health in four points:

First, that human health and human civilisation depend heavily on the planets natural systems and their careful management. Since the 1950s, our natural systems, which include the atmosphere, the oceans, the climate and others, have been deteriorating at a rate that has no precedent in human history. In some cases, it is feared that we have reached such levels of degradation that there can be no return.

Human health and human civilisation depend heavily on the planets natural systems and their careful management

Second, the degradation of our natural systems leads to environmental threats to human health and to the whole of our civilisation, which are unpredictable and uncertain. As we witnessed in the recent summit in Paris and many other forums, we are facing far-reaching dangers that require urgent and transformative actions to protect present and future generations.

Third, the current systems of governance and organisation of human knowledge are insufficient for dealing with the threats to planetary health. An improvement in governance is needed to facilitate the integration of social, economic and environmental policies and for the creation, synthesis and application of interdisciplinary knowledge to improve planetary health.

The current systems of governance and organisation of human knowledge are insufficient for dealing with the threats to Planetary Health

And fourth, the solutions are within our reach and must be based on the redefinition of prosperity, with a focus on improving quality of life and health for everyone, together with a respect for the integrity of natural systems. This effort requires societies to deal with the factors of environmental change, promoting models of sustainable and equitable consumption, reducing population growth and using the power of technology to bring about the change.

We are undergoing a period marked by accelerated climate change due to human activity and unprecedented global transformations. In this context, the idea of Planetary Health proposes that humanity can successfully develop throughout the 21st century, addressing the unacceptable inequalities in health and wealth within the environmental limits of the Earth. And that is why we need new knowledge, intelligent policies, decisive action and inspiring leadership.

UPF can play an extremely important role approaching this new framework of Planterary Health in a broader context of Planetary Wellbeing

Approaching this new framework of Planetary Health in the broader context of Planetary Wellbeing as an inspiring strategy for UPF has a double meaning. Firstly because of the nature itself of the problems that could be defined by their complexity. We need new kinds of knowledge that enable us to better understand that complexity and that mostly require a multidisciplinary framework. And it’s here, at this confluence of complexity and multidisciplinarity, where UPF can play an extremely important role, broadening the scope of the Planetary Health concept towards one of Planetary Wellbeing. In this way, UPF hopes to contribute to an improved understanding of the challenges and the possible solutions.

Secondly, this initiative aspires to provide us with a powerful, transformative vision, which encompasses all areas of the University, it allows us to launch integrative actions in the areas of cooperative responsibility, sustainable development in the institution, the generation of new knowledge, the implementation of new teaching programmes and a new framework for relations with the country. It’s worth highlighting, in this regard, that the Rector’s aim to support the project of transforming the Ciutadella campus as a transformative axis for the city of Barcelona, takes on a highly significant dimension.

We’ve already made some headway. We’ve held a couple of working meetings with a group of teachers who are interested in this proposal and we’ve identified a set of active research projects and teaching initiatives that could converge in a proposal like this one. We’re referring to lines of research and teaching programmes that are connected with social inequalities, health economics, environmental law, global law, international governance, complex systems and other related areas. We are preparing a programme of complementary research and teaching actions which will serve to encourage multidisciplinarity and sew the seeds for actions with greater scope.

In the coming months we hope to put together a task force which will act as the core driver of the initiative and set in motion certain research and teaching actions. We’re talking about grants aimed at pre- and post-doctoral researchers that wish to widen the scope of their research in this framework of Planetary Wellbeing and also about new teaching programmes, including minors and master programmes.

We are preparing a programme of complementary research and teaching actions which will serve to encourage multidisciplinarity

We’d like everyone at the University to feel they can participate. Obviously, from what we’ve said so far, all teaching and research staff and the students, but also the community as a whole and its governing bodies. Pompeu Fabra already has a significant trajectory in the area of environmental sustainability and solidarity and we’re convinced that these areas will be strengthened and complemented with this initiative.

I wish I could say we already had the funding to set in motion far-reaching, ambitious actions, but, as you might imagine, for the time being that’s not the case. We need to find this funding in different ways. For now, we have a small budget for stimulating complementary actions as pilot initiatives.

I should start by saying that knowledge today is very limited and that the effects on our health are undoubtedly greater than what we have been able to identify and measure so far. The best known are the direct effects like the rise in temperatures and heat waves, or floods and other similar phenomena. The 2003 heat wave in Europe led to 70,000 more deaths than expected, and these episodes are becoming increasingly frequent.

There are also indirect effects, such as the fact that the rise in temperature might alter the scope of certain infectious disease vectors, as is the case with malaria. Both directly and indirectly the effects are most felt among the most disadvantaged populations, thereby worsening social inequalities in health.

However, the most worrying effects are those that are complex and systemic, like the impact of the climate on food production and the increase in deaths from starvation, mass migration and armed conflict.

We need to understand climate change as a part of a global change with multiple dimensions, one of which is the climate.

I think we need to address three major challenges. And we have to do so on all levels.

Firstly, we have to change our approach to health and well-being. Current advances in health often have a negative impact on the environment and the health of future generations, and disproportionately in poor and developing countries. We cannot consider health and well-being without considering the planet’s natural and social resources.

Secondly, we have to transform our research and knowledge systems concerning health. We need a much better understanding of the factors and processes that determine social and environmental issues related with health and disease, so that this knowledge and information can be used for decision-making and formulating environmental and healthcare policies.

Thirdly, the development of new institutional and governance models. Institutions and governments have to respond efficiently and ahead of time to the threats to environmental sustainability and health, while acknowledging the uncertainties, interdependencies and time lapses before the effects are felt.

Institutions and governments have to respond efficiently and ahead of time to the threats to environmental sustainability and health

From another perspective, the nature of the Sustainable Development Goals offers an opportunity to define and maintain the scope of the policies of a broad range of social agents and institutions, both global and local. As I said before, everything that Pompeu does in the field of sustainability and social responsibility must have great importance in the future.

We cannot say, even though we have a research agenda in this area. Really, what we want to do now is define, delimit and identify the concept. In all departments in UPF there are research lines that are related with Planetary Wellbeing, and what we want is to get them communicating with each other, look for synergies, foster multidisciplinarity.

In all departaments in UPF there are research lines that are related with Planetary Wellbeing, and what we want is to look for synergies

In one of the working meetings I mentioned before, projects were presented in research lines such as: global governance, regulations and networks; a systemic approach to political and social factors in healthcare inequalities; culture, sustainability and globalisation; capacity of human resilience, adaptation to extreme environments and (pre)historic systems of agriculture and food production; activism for the defence of non-human animals from an ethical and intersectional perspective; interpreting and translation in public services (healthcare, education, legal, etc.) and intercultural mediation; internet sciences and social computing; synthetic biology and ecosystems; law and globalisation; economics and climate change.

It’s a very wide-ranging and, you could say, disparate assortment of fields, but I’m sure that it will serve as an excellent platform for finding synergies and establishing multidisciplinary dialogue.