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From Environmental Crises to Integral Ecology: A One Health Approach to Climate Change, Pollution, Biodiversity Loss, and Land Degradation

The contemporary global environmental crisis is increasingly characterized by interconnected and mutually reinforcing pressures that affect ecosystems, societies, and human health.
In the context of the Anthropocene, where human activity has become the primary driver of planetary change, these pressures have evolved into a systemic threat that transcends traditional borders.
Recent disruptions, including armed conflict and related global shocks and cascading risks, have intensified these threats and exposed the fragility of interconnected systems—especially for vulnerable and marginalized populations.

Major UN frameworks and global assessments—such as the Sustainable Development Goals, IPCC and GEO reports, and IPBES—stress the urgency of addressing these converging crises. Their findings highlight the direct impacts on human, animal, and ecosystem health and make clear the need for coordinated, cross-sectoral responses rooted in the One Health approach, which recognizes that the health of people is closely connected to the health of animals and our shared environment.


Particularly,the Global Environment Outlook (GEO-7) introduces the concept of polycrises—overlapping, mutually reinforcing crises that amplify risk across sectors and scales. Tackling these dynamics requires interdisciplinary collaboration, integrating science, public health, policy, and community action to move beyond siloed solutions toward systemic transformation.
Among the global context, the Mediterranean region functions as a climate “hotspot” and concurs to be a particularly critical laboratory for studying environmental polycrises and addressing them.

Characterized by intense anthropization, climate vulnerability, biodiversity richness, but also strong socio-economic disparities, the region is increasingly exposed to extreme climatic events, ecosystem degradation, and pollution pressures.


These transformations directly affect urban health, ecosystem services, and food systems, while also influencing risk distribution and vulnerability patterns among populations.
Coastal cities and densely populated metropolitan areas face compounded environmental pressures , including sea-level rise and the “Urban Heat Island” effect, that impact air quality, water resources, land use, and the overall resilience of communities.

These challenges emphasize the need for transdisciplinary, data informed, and justice centered solutions.
The consequences for human health due to the planetary polycrisis are profound, with evidence linking environmental exposures to chronic disease, mental health decline, and intergenerational impacts mediated by epigenetic and molecular pathways. Addressing these challenges requires particular attention to the needs of the most vulnerable and to the social and commercial determinants, such as industrial practices and economic policies, that shape health outcomes.

Urban health challenges, such as heat stress, air pollution exposure, and inadequate green infrastructure, highlight the need to better understand the biological and social mechanisms through which environmental change shapes health outcomes across generations.
Questions of climate justice are central: indigenous and marginalized communities bear disproportionate impacts, yet their traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and adaptive practices offer vital solutions for equitable, inclusive governance.

The 5th International One Health Conference “From Environmental Crises to Integral Ecology: A One Health Approach to Climate Change, Pollution,

Biodiversity Loss”responds to this urgency by advancing a series of interconnected themes: climate resilience, pollution and environmental health, biodiversity loss and proliferation of invasive species, food systems, zoonosis, land degradation, and digital innovation with ethics and governance. By moving beyond a purely anthropocentric view, the conference adopts the lens of “Integral Ecology,” emphasizing that environmental, social, and economic systems are part of a single complex web.

The conference aims to explore the polycrisis framework outlined in GEO-7 by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue on the relationships between climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution/waste, and land degradation, with particular attention to their implications for human physical and mental health, animal welfare, epigenomics, vulnerability, and resilience. Crucially, it addresses the “silent pandemic” of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) as a cross-cutting threat influenced by environmental degradation and intensive food systems.

By bringing together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners, the conference seeks to advance integrated knowledge and strengthen the science-policy interface. This collaboration is designed to generate collaborative solutions capable of addressing the complex environmental and health challenges of the Anthropocene, ensuring that scientific evidence is translated into equitable governance and actionable public health strategies.

References

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