Book Description

Planetary Health is a solution oriented transdisciplinary field and a global movement focused on analyzing and addressing the impacts of human disruptions to Earth’s natural systems on human health and all life on Earth. A core insight of the field is that the current Earth crisis is so extensive that it is now driving a global humanitarian crisis (Planetary Health Alliance © 2022). The nature of our current problems, with global and local implications, requires that voices from all geographies, genders, and cultures be heard, and that those people be involved in the Planetary Health Alliance (PHA). With that in mind, the PHA proposed that the 4th Planetary Health Annual Meeting (PHAM2021) would be hosted for the first time in the Global South. After a selection process, the University of São Paulo (USP) was chosen to host the PHAM2021, in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. USP and PHA worked together to develop the program. The meeting motto reflects the overall concept: Planetary Health for all - bridging communities to achieve the Great Transition. Also on our minds was a sense of urgency to promote actions, as the Earth crisis continues to intensify all around the globe. Then came the COVID-19 outbreak to emphasize the importance of spreading the word about PH as a comprehensive framework to understand our current situation and to promote change. Intended to be held in-person at the USP main campus, we had to shift to a virtual meeting due to the pandemic. We took that as an opportunity to expand the program across an entire week, to declare the last week of April Planetary Health Week, and call our event PH Meeting and Festival, including arts sessions in the program, as arts are an important way to connect people around PH. Our audience increased tremendously, while lowering our environmental footprint: we had more than 5,000 registrants from 130 countries. The narrative of the event was especially tailored to be aligned with the underlying event concept, bringing foundations of PH - values and knowledge, and PH in action in the private sector, government and civil society. Each of them was the main theme of a day that week. Finally, we felt it was time for the global PH community to issue a call-to-action for a deep change and urgent response: the São Paulo Declaration on Planetary Health was developed openly and collaboratively by the global community with assistance from the United Nations Development Program and was released after the event. At the end, and after all the hard work, we felt very satisfied with the results, the ample participation, and with an innovative event that will certainly inspire the next editions.