Laurea UAS celebrates the 10th anniversary of Planetary Health and the Planetary Health Alliance

The year 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the concept of “Planetary Health” and the Planetary Health Alliance (PHA, co-ordinated by Johns Hopkins University, USA) with more than 500 member organizations worldwide, including universities, higher education institutions, research institutes and different regional hubs. Laurea University of Applied Sciences is proudly one of these organizations, promoting the awareness and the importance of planetary health and planetary wellbeing, especially in the context of multidisciplinary higher education.

kuvituskuva. — Photo: ROY / Adobe Stock (Laurea Education licence)

Planetary Health as a global social movement

As described by the Planetary Health Alliance (PHA) on their community page (2025), as a solutions-oriented, transdisciplinary and global social movement, Planetary Health has focused, since the 2015 report (2015) by the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission, on analysing and addressing the human impact on Earth’s natural systems, human health and all life on Earth. The human-caused environmental disruptions and the complexities of interactions between humans, our shared environment and human health requires the participation of all members of society to drive solutions and find new, sustainable innovations that benefit all, as with climate change everything changes. Hence, planetary health calls everyone for co-operation, whether we are professionals, teachers, educators, students, or policy makers.

From climate change to a sustainable future

According to the PHA (2025), Planetary Health topics broadly cover themes related to environmental change (such as air pollution, climate change, resource scarcity, biodiversity loss, and chemical pollution) and health impacts (such as nutritional diseases, mental health, direct injuries, noncommunicable diseases, and impacts related to displacement and conflict). Undoubtedly, despite the improvement of the average global citizen’s health over the past century, our shared planet with its life supporting systems have severely deteriorated, causing significant threat to all life forms on earth. With the changing global environment, we humans are facing both a destabilized climate system and even the mass extinction of different life forms on earth. These changes affect the very foundations of our life from the air we breathe to the water we drink, including the overall habitability of our communities.

In this century, as stated by PHA, there is a significant threat to decades of progress in human health and wellbeing promotion, and the ecological determinants of health are especially affecting the most vulnerable populations on earth, such as marginalised and oppressed communities with people suffering from poverty or different disabilities. As its goal, Planetary Health seeks to create a livable and sustainable future for all the future generations, while fostering harmony between human wellbeing and the health of the planet.

As Samuel Myers (2024) reminds us in his article on Planetary Health, “[w]e find ourselves actors in one of history’s greatest dramas” where all of Nature has become collateral damage in pursuit of our ambitions. Myers, as the founding director of the PHA, challenges us and asks whether we are ready to write a story for the future generations where we, a young species with a very large brain, managed to chart a new course to replace selfishness with collectivism and regenerate our stunningly beautiful planet.

Global research co-operation for Planetary Health by PHA

As everything is interconnected, when the complex natural systems of earth are changing, this inevitably affects us humans and often in unexpected ways. Therefore, there is a great need for multidisciplinary and global co-operation to tackle these issues and safeguard our planet and our planetary health. To support the global awareness of Planetary Health, PHA with its extensive member network has created an extensive and constantly updated and curated collection of different research resources with more than 2000 research articles, tools and videos that can be used in Planetary Health research and education while also providing latest information on Planetary Health for anyone wanting to make an active difference in their own communities (Research & Resources – Planetary Health Alliance).

From Roadmap to Planetary Health to Planetary Health Campus Ambassadors

In 2024, Planetary Health Alliance also created Roadmap to Planetary Health where the key topics include for example the analysis of the concept of Planetary Health, a brief historical overview of the work by Planetary Health Alliance, the usefulness of a Planetary Health Roadmap, the three key areas for change and a series of key Roadmap actions for Planetary Health actors, guidance on how to communicate Planetary Health across stakeholder groups and providing a clear Planetary Health Action Plan, rooted in an annual assessment of Planetary Health. (Roadmap-to-Planetary-Health)

Additionally, Planetary Health Alliance facilitates the development of a new global metric for Planetary Health, providing country-level data (with relevance, regular updates, accuracy, open-source availability, global comprehensiveness, and maximum disaggregation) to guide such investments that advance balance across environmental, human, and societal health, with an emphasis on engaging both policymakers and governance. This type of a metric is also meant to support actionable outcomes for both policy and education efforts.

Also, in addition to varied PHA working groups, with its 56 Planetary Health Campus Ambassadors from 30 countries and with eight regional hubs, PHA activities are engaging communities worldwide for local planetary health actions. (Planetary Health Campus Ambassadors – Planetary Health Alliance)

Future directions for Planetary Health Alliance

To celebrate its 10th Anniversary, Planetary Health Alliance conducted a member survey (2025) in its member platform in HYLO to find out about the future directions for shared planetary actions. According to the key findings, PHA members consider education a top priority: Over 80% of respondents expressed interest in Planetary Health education, training, and curriculum development. Also, events and webinars were highly valued – nearly 72% of members wanted to engage through the knowledge-sharing platforms of PHA. Also, regional engagement is growing in Europe, Latin America, and North America, also highlighting the global PHA community.

The PHA members emphasized the importance of creating visible positive stories and role models to inspire the Great Transition and providing pathways for tangible action beyond raising awareness. Also, combatting misinformation, amplifying voices from underrepresented communities and strengthening North-South collaboration and governance applications were considered essential.

At Laurea, planetary health and wellbeing is actively promoted in practice in Bachelor and Master education programs as well as in Laurea’s RDI activities, both in varied EU and local projects as well as in different staff teams focused for example on futures consciousness, sustainability-related topics and social and health care related co- and service design.

By promoting also in higher education such approaches, behaviours, policies and practices that focus on the intricate connections between human and planetary health and wellbeing, varied ecosystems, and the complex environments, we can create a more sustainable, resilient and thriving future for both people and our shared earth.