One health definition: WHO

The buzz word is “One Health”

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Compiled by Nobuhle Chikuni

Anyone who knows me knows that I love conservation work – I am a vulture geek. Believe it or not, I have even had the privilege of hand raising a vulture. In the past few years that I have been working for the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), a public interest environmental law organisation, that aims to ensure that communities in resource rich areas can benefit from the resources and can utilise natural resources in a sustainable manner, I have learnt a lot on the legally backed preventive measures that relate to the governance of natural resources. I have grown to appreciate the legal processes that are involved in the development of legal frameworks and policies and now appreciate the need for and importance of community agency at every stage of natural resource governance. I now understand the importance of science and how it complements these efforts. Over and above, I have grown to appreciate the “One Health” approach and how it is all interlinked to the broader agenda of natural resource governance, including mining. Based on this appreciation, I posit that there is no better time than now to adopt this approach for holistic natural resources, ecosystems, climate change and human health management.

According to the European Uniou (EU), “One Health” is a unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimise the health of people, animals, and ecosystems. It recognises the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the wider environment (including ecosystems as well as their linkages and interdependency). In today’s interconnected world, this approach is essential in preventing, preparing for and responding to global threats, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that surely turned our lives upside down, globally.

In the last few weeks, I attended a session on “One Health” which brought out the trained scientist in me, who – as part of career growth – has become a paralegal and community liaison. My key take away was that population growth and expansion have naturally led to increased contact between humans, wildlife and humans, as well as domestic animals and wildlife. These developments are reinforced by other factors, such as climate change, deforestation and intensive farming which destroy wild animals’ habitats.
Many frameworks are being developed across natural resource governance sector from responsible sourcing guidelines such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains, the Kunming-Montreal protocol and Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in wildlife sector, sustainable agriculture framework and many more. One has to note that one way or another, all these frameworks are linked and intend to promote sustainable use and exploitation of natural resources while at the same time, contributing to climate health, environmental health and human health.

Therefore, in this article, I call for a holistic approach in natural resource governance. This call is informed by ZELA’s acknowledgment that all natural resource sectors are interconnected. Thus, ZELA implements integrated programming, which in its own way is a holistic approach. This is visible in the skill set at ZELA which includes experts from diverse sectors related to natural resource governance such as mining engineers, environmental scientists and subject matter experts for various fields, including biodiversity.
In this regard, it is evident that to achieve the sustainable use and management of natural resources, a holistic approach is necessary. One cannot refer to one health without mentioning the importance of laws and the necessary regulation, to make this approach sustainable. An effective “One Health” approach requires cooperation and collaboration among various sectors and disciplines, such as agriculture, environment, human medicine, veterinary medicine, epidemiology, environmental and social sciences, governance, to mention a few.

Professionals and representatives of these sectors, should work together at national, regional, and international levels to prevent, identify and monitor existing and emerging threats, reduce and stop their spread. A “One Health” approach contributes to better human, animal and environmental health, as well as improved food safety. This is what ZELA envisions as a better world.

In conclusion I recommend that:
• There is need for more collaboration between the relevant government departments to come up with a strategy for the collective implementation of the One Health approach as well as making sure the laws that govern natural resource speak to and are complementary to each other.
• There is need for CSOs working in the space come together and develop strategies that can feed into the implementation of the “One Health” approach
• More science is needed to back up the law to guarantee sustainability of frameworks put in place.

 

[1] https://health.ec.europa.eu/one-health/overview

Overview – European Commission – Public Health, https://health.ec.europa.eu/one-health/overview_en.

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