PLANETARY HEALTH THE HEALTH OF HUMAN CIVILISATION AND THE NATURAL SYSTEMS ON WHICH IT DEPENDS
THE HUMAN POPULATION IS HEALTHIER THAN EVER BEFORE
LIFE EXPECTANCY POVERTY CHILD MORTALITY Mean global life expectancy Population of world in Recorded deaths at birth (years) poverty (%) of under-fives1 80 100 20M
60 50 10M
40 0 0 1950 2000 1950 2000 1950 2000
BUT TO ACHIEVE THIS WE’VE EXPLOITED THE PLANET AT AN UNPRECEDENTED RATE
CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS OCEAN ACIDIFICATION ENERGY USE Atmospheric concentration Global ocean acidification (mean World primary of CO2 (ppm) hydrogen ion concentration, nmol/kg) energy use (EJ) 400 9 600
350 8 400
300 7 200
250 6 0 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
TROPICAL FOREST LOSS WATER USE FERTILISER USE Global tropical forest loss compared Water use Global fertiliser use (nitrogen, with 1700 baseline (%) (thousand km3) phosphorus, and potassium; thousand tonnes) 40 4 200 30 3 20 2 100 10 1 0 0 0 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
The period of environmental changes induced by human exploitation of the planet defines a new geological era: the Anthropocene epoch�
ON OUR CURRENT TRAJECTORY WE WILL PUT EVEN MORE PRESSURE ON THE PLANET
POPULATION GRAIN PRODUCTION REQUIREMENTS WATER DEMAND2 World population (billions) Total global cereal production (billions of tonnes) 2000 2050 c. 4.2 bn
1800 1 billion
5,500 km3 2014 1 bn 3,500 km3 7 billion
2050 9.6 billion 1960 2014 2050
DAMAGING THE PLANET DAMAGES HUMAN HEALTH
BIODIVERSITY CLIMATE LOSS CHANGE UNDER NUTRITION
If unchecked climate change related Overfishing together with increasing impacts could cause an extra acidity and other environmental changes threaten fish supplies Millions of people are at risk of under nutrition due to the 250,000 combined e ects of deaths per year climate change and other between 2030 and 20503 environmental changes
WATER SOIL USE DEGRADATION
By 2050 over This leads to a loss of 40% 1-2 of the world’s population could be living in areas under severe million hectares water stress of agricultural land per annum
These environmental threats could also exacerbate each other
TO SAFEGUARD HUMAN HEALTH WE NEED TO MAINTAIN THE HEALTH OF THE PLANET ON WHICH WE DEPEND
HEALTHY DIETS LEARN ABOUT REDUCE WITH A LOW BETTER PLANETARY FOOD ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE HEALTH WASTE IMPACT
Planetary health is the 30-50% of all food produced Diets low in red meat with Coordinated global, highest standard of health, is never consumed. plenty of fruit and national and local policies wellbeing and equity Reducing food waste means vegetables reduce the risk that reduce environmental worldwide. Human systems less land is needed for of heart disease. Dietary damage and improve are responsible for shaping agriculture; saving energy, changes could reduce health need to be the future of human water, helping to protect greenhouse gas emissions implemented civilisation and the Earth’s biodiversity and improving and land use requirements natural systems food security by up to 50%
USE WATER MORE END FAMILY CITY EFFICIENTLY DEFORESTATION PLANNING PLANNING
Although drip or trickle Since 2000 we have cut Around 225 million women Planning healthy and irrigation methods are down over 2.3 million who want to avoid pregnancy sustainable cities can more expensive to km2 of primary forest. are not using e ective increase resilience to install, they can be The REDD+ mechanism contraception. Access to environmental change, 33% more e cient in aims to reduce family planning could cut reduce environmental water use greenhouse gas maternal deaths by almost impacts and improve emissions and improve 30% and improve food people’s health local livelihoods security
Read the full series at http://www.thelancet.com/commissions/planetary-health
SOURCES
1. http://data.unicef.org/child-survival/under-five 2. OECD, http://www.oecd.org/env/indicators-modelling-outlooks/49844953.pdf 3. Original source reference in: Watts N, Adger WN, Agnolucci P, et al. Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health. Lancet 2015; published online June 23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60854-6 All other data is in: Whitmee S, Haines A, Beyrer C, et al. Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health. Lancet 2015; published online July 16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60901-1