Delivering effective environment and health actions: a compendium of concepts, approaches and tools for the WHO European Region

Overview

In the third decade of the 21st century, Member States in the WHO European Region are confronting the health dimension of “triple planetary crises” due to climate change, environmental pollution and biodiversity loss and land degradation, while also building forward better from coronavirus disease. To address this complex crisis, concepts, approaches and tools are used to enhance the effectiveness of actions by Member States. This compendium was developed as background for the Seventh Ministerial Conference for Environment and Health, “Accelerating action for healthier people, a thriving planet, a sustainable future” (‎Budapest, Hungary, 5–7 July, 2023)‎. Its purpose is to catalyse and support national and subnational activities for environment and health. It recognizes that identifying and delivering an appropriate blend of environment and health policies and programmes for the 21st century presents a significant challenge for national and subnational authorities and agencies, but that it can be facilitated by drawing selectively on a suite of resources. The compendium succinctly describes these resources – a mix of concepts/frameworks, approaches, and tools – some of which are already widely used in environment and health, while others have yet to be developed and/or effectively deployed.