Nearly every day, a new report comes to my attention that evaluates an existing problem or proposes how to solve one. Most frequently, the new insights are incremental. Reducing the parts per million concentration of an air pollutant, achieving continuous annual improvement in energy efficiency, or increasing municipal recycling rates all illustrate the predominant approach to current problem-solving. These types of initiatives are beneficial, but none of them effectively respond to the scale of the problems facing humankind now and in the future.
A new report of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) transforms our mental maps and presents innovative ideas for resolving larger-scale problems. Titled “Transforming EPA Science to Meet Today’s and Tomorrow’s Challenges,” the report was publicly released on March 9 and goes well beyond the Environmental Protection Agency in the scope of its analysis and range of its applications. Funded by the EPA, the report was prepared by a committee of 17 members representing a diversity of expertise and personal backgrounds including the health and environmental sciences, environmental justice, information and other digital technologies, public policy, and sustainability analysis. (Disclosure: This columnist was a member of the committee.)
The continuing degradation of biodiversity and related aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems has led to an outcome in which human health can no longer be sufficiently protected …
The value and uniqueness of the NASEM report lie in its ability to clearly communicate innovative concepts and data that inhabit a range of scientific disciplines. It constructs a science and policy roadmap for addressing some of our most important challenges, now and in the future. It does so by proposing a new policy framework for decision-makers at all levels of society and leverages major scientific and technological innovations for use by government, businesses, and citizens.
Since the beginning of the modern era of environmental protection in the 1970s, public health issues have been managed separately from those impacting ecosystems. The continuing degradation of biodiversity and related aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems has led to an outcome in which human health can no longer be sufficiently protected as environmental support systems necessary for human life — air, land and water — continue to deteriorate, and critical species cannot survive in the face of human overconsumption of natural resources.
The One Environment-One Health framework developed by the NASEM committee takes a unified approach by no longer separating environmental considerations from public health decisions. Rather, it proposes to jointly examine existing ecological and human data, and ambitiously plan and fund new research initiatives that better inform the complex interactions among environmental, social and economic systems. The EPA and other institutions have begun to develop initiatives to support this new framework, but the NASEM committee’s report significantly builds on these efforts in the quest for even bolder, more scalable solutions.
One Environment-One Health fundamentally rests upon two powerful foundations: acknowledging that our physical environment is a rich source of data — nature itself is data; and collecting, analyzing and applying multiple data sets increasingly through digital technologies.
What digital technology tools exist to support a One Environment-One Health approach? The advancement of digital technologies is rapidly advancing the toolkit for both decision-makers and citizens to implement an integrated environmental-public health strategy. Examples include:
The greater integration of larger amounts of multiple data sets combined with the growing scale of environmental and public health crises increasingly provides public policymakers, business executives and citizens with more impactful solutions.
The greater integration of larger amounts of multiple data sets combined with the growing scale of environmental and public health crises increasingly provides public policymakers, business executives and citizens with more impactful solutions. Two examples illustrate the transformation of existing policy frameworks through a One Environment-One Health approach.
The transition to a One Environment-One Health policy framework will require the alignment of scientific research, business strategies, financing, and policy development over many years even as momentum to build shorter-term insights and results emerge.
Embedding scientific investigation and innovation as part of solutions developed on a larger scale creates ever-greater opportunities for collaboration across governments, businesses and NGOs. One Environment-One Health is not only the next data frontier, it is the next policy frontier.
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