Nature first

Interview with Doreen Robinson, Head of Biodiversity at UNEP

1. What motivated UNEP to form N4H and what role will it play to ensure its success?

The world is currently undergoing a triple planetary crisis, whereby the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss and the increase in pollution and waste are now, more than ever before, threatening our quality of life, livelihoods, health, as well as our well-being.

UNEP is the global authority that sets the environmental agenda. As many of the drivers that contribute to the increased risk of pandemic occurrence are tied to environmental degradation and mismanagement, our organisation felt compelled and motivated, and indeed uniquely positioned, to become one of the forming parties of N4H.

One Health is a holistic and integrated approach that supports a wide range of sustainable development objectives with significant co-benefits in areas such as agriculture, food production as well as environmental protection, conservation and restoration.

While the One Health approach is not new, the COVID-19 pandemic clearly exposed the interlinkages between human, animal and environmental health. Member states also recognised this as reflected in the UNEA Resolution on Biodiversity and Health, adopted in 2022.

The expected benefit of One Health to the global community was estimated in 2022 to be at least USD 37 billion per year, according to FAO. The estimated annual need for expenditure on prevention is less than ten percent of these benefits. As the environmental dimensions of One Health have lagged behind human and animal health dimensions, UNEP is calling for strengthened dimensions of ALL aspects of health, including the environmental dimension.

All of this made it strikingly clear that UNEP and partners needed to expand our work on the environment dimensions of health.  This prompted the establishment of the N4H initiative developed to prevent the next pandemic and to do so by breaking down siloed approaches to health.

2. From your perspective, as Head of Biodiversity at UNEP, what is so unique about the Nature for Health initiative?

Pandemics are clearly a very complex problem that necessitates connecting sectors in an integrated manner. N4H brings together leading environment and health organisations to reduce the risk of pandemics. It is composed of UN agencies, intergovernmental organisations and civil society who bring extensive multisectoral and diverse One Health practical experiences. This helps to increase coherence and alignment on key priorities, activities and outcomes and thereby reduces potential for fragmentation.

There are many unique aspects to the N4H partnership. One of the fundamental aspects is the initiative’s focus on prevention and addressing the underlying environmental drivers and risks for spillover events. While many other initiatives focus on detection, preparedness and response, a greater focus on prevention is needed to inform a more cost-effective and impactful approach to risk mitigation and management.   

The partnership also focuses on supporting action and implementation on the ground at local, national and regional levels, enabling concepts to be turned into reality and impact. Another unique aspect of N4H is its systems approach that it takes towards mobilising change and ensuring multi-stakeholder participation. Only through systemic framing can we truly unlock lasting risk mitigation.

Our N4H objectives are ambitious - to reduce the risk of pandemics by working in the low- and middle- income countries, which face the highest risk of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Because when it comes to pandemic prevention, the weakest link really matters.  

3. What does success look like to you and your organisation when it comes to N4H?

Success will mean that:

• Increased and improved investments in nature will deliver enhanced health outcomes for all species in the countries where we intend to work;

• Those countries will have strong functioning programmes for health, an empowered environmental sector, and integrated One Health strategies in place.

• Any discussion about health will have sufficient environmental representation. 

• We will have raised a further 400 million Euros to be able to work in most countries where there is a clear demand based on our recent expression of interest. 

• Even after the end of the initiative, there will be a continued and sustained impact as countries will have ownership of the initiative. 

• N4H environmental preventative actions will have impacts that will extend beyond pandemic prevention to also help improve broader health and development outcomes.