Health in global biodiversity governance: what is next?

Environmental degradation contributes substantially to the global burden of disease and concurrent global environmental changes are increasingly recognised as public health threats, worldwide.1 The 196 parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have called for increased engagement on biodiversity and health since 2014,2 while calls from stakeholders for integrated decision making are similarly long standing.3 Yet few civil society health organisations have historically engaged with the CBD and its intergovernmental negotiating process.4 This situation is, however, changing. Elements of other COP 15 outcomes5 are also relevant to the health community and to steering health civil society organisation priorities, including separate decisions5 on climate change, biocultural diversity, food systems and soil biodiversity, and synthetic biology. [...]health experts can bolster the health dimension of environmental impact assessments, national ecosystem assessments, and strategic environmental assessments, and ensure their inclusion in decision making.25 The full environmental footprint, including planetary pressures from material use and waste, biodiversity loss, and carbon dioxide emissions, must be estimated for the health sector and addressed.26,27 As emphasised in the GBF, health professionals also need to strengthen their roles in efforts to expand interdisciplinary biodiversity education, and integrate holistic biodiversity–health approaches into national biodiversity and health plans.28 CBD COP 16 will take place in Türkiye in 2024.