Pacific Island countries are at the pointy end of global health problems. They endure an uneven share of the ‘triple burden’ of disease — infectious diseases such as malaria, non-communicable diseases such as obesity, and climate change induced health impacts. But they are also a crucial setting from which to inspire world leadership in planetary health. The academic field of planetary health was launched in 2015 with the release of the Lancet-Rockefeller Commission Report, highlighting that the health and vitality of all human and natural systems are inseparably connected. Around the same time, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which touch similar themes, were internationally endorsed. In the global and regional planetary health arenas, Pacific Island leaders are poised to drive action. Pacific Island nations are large ocean states, managing approximately 20 percent of the world’s oceans, the primary drivers of Earth’s climatic system. They are at a stage of development where their policy decisions will significantly affect the environmental and social wellbeing of the entire planet. They also support among the richest array of cultures and ecosystems from which to respond to the intersecting demands of the SDGs. Recognising the complex connections that exist between health of humans, other animals, environments, and the planetary system at large, are not conceptually new. Such ways of understanding health are rooted in ancient times, as early as Hippocrates in Western knowledge traditions, and central to many Indigenous knowledge systems. While intergovernmental agencies call for unified plans of action for health, environment and climate change, particularly in the large ocean states, Pacific leaders are leading the clarion call for climate action. Recent Pacific Islands Heads of Health and Oceania Planetary Health Forums reaffirmed the urgent mandate for a consolidated platform for Island nations to respond to regional and global health impacts. Unifying and strengthening research and action on human, non-human animal and environmental health, natural resource management, and Indigenous local knowledge were seen as key.
This is consistent with the core tenets of the latest WHO manifesto, prescribing a healthy and green recovery from COVID-19, the Healthy Islands Vision, and Blue Pacific narrative. These will guide policy development, investment and action to where co-benefits for economic development, public health and environmental stewardship are most likely. The Pacific Islands have demonstrated political commitment to implement essential changes widely and rapidly – if scientifically rigorous and culturally appropriate solutions can be identified. In a recent demonstration of planetary health leadership, the Pacific Community, the principal scientific and technical organisation for the Pacific region, adopted planetary health as a key focal area of their 10-year strategic plan (2022-2031). At the July 12 - 14 Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting, a draft 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent will be presented. It will guide how Oceania’s countries and communities will work together “to secure our region’s future against the challenges of today and the coming decades, to achieve a free, safe and prosperous region.” Regional security can emerge from decisions that reflect a deep understanding that all societies and economies are embedded in the biosphere, and that functioning ecosystems are foundational to human health and well-being.
The major challenge for policymakers is understanding the complex positive and negative interactions among interventions to achieve SDGs to ensure that progress made in some areas is not made at the expense of lack of progress in others.
