In the new geological epoch of the Anthropocene, impacts of human activity on the Earth’s systems are posing major risks to human health. Currently these impacts are poorly monitored and gathering evidence on global environmental change and their connections to health can help policymakers target high-risk areas and uncover priorities for development.
Our researchers are designing a Planetary Health Watch system to monitor how human activity affects health, and measure the effectiveness of responses. The watch system is accumulating information from designated ‘hotspots’, which relate to areas of particular human vulnerability, and ‘opportunity sites’ that are undergoing sustainability interventions.
The Planetary Health Watch system seeks to leverage existing monitoring initiatives and synthesise data from around the world. Using advanced digital technologies and machine learning the system will be designed specifically to support planetary health decision-makers.
- Key publications
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- Monitoring environmental change and human health - 2020
- Challenges for health in the Anthropocene epoch - 2019
- Planetary Health Watch: integrated monitoring in the Anthropocene epoch - 2018
- Challenges and opportunities in planetary health for primary care providers - 2018
- Health in the Aanthropocene epoch—implications for epidemiology - 2018
- The need for a systems approach to planetary health - 2017
- Planet human versus planet Earth—time for some win-win evidence - 2017
- Addressing challenges to human health in the Anthropocene epoch-an overview of the findings of the Rockefeller/Lancet Commission on Planetary Health - 2017
- Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: Report of the Rockefeller Foundation - 2015